A Family in All but Blood
by mun sung
Summary: the legendary Mutsurugi Ryu has been passed down for generations, its disciples now take the name Kenshin. What happens when the succesor is a young man who finds himself in an American High School, trying to escape his fate? please please read and review
1. Default Chapter

AN- first- is the second repost of this story. I really happen to like it and am a sucker for reviews. Even flames are welcome, as long as they are constructive.

second- the Japanese in this is not perfect, but based, rather on my limited understanding of it. please be forgiving if I used some words and phrases incorrectly.

third- this is an edited edition where in i tried to be more consistent in my use of tenses when writing.

fourth and last- assume any conversation between the narrator and someone Japanese is in Japanese. again, thanks for the understanding

A Family in All But Blood Ch. 1

I step forward, noting the slight shock on my opponents face. Inwardly I smile in satisfaction but outwardly I show no emotion other than cool hatred. These men, assassins, hitokiri, whom only the royal family of Japan can command, were sent to bring me back; by any means needed or possible. They tracked me down to this school and threatened everyone in it. Everyone...including those few I would call my friends. That was their first mistake.

Their second was challenging me to a duel.

My opponent slips into his fighting stance. He knows who I am, and what I'm capable of. He also knows what happens to those who fail our, no...! Those who fail his master. Those who fail the master of the hitokiri, the emperor, die.

In a glance I take in his stance and it tells me everything I need to know. His right hand is extended out to guide his attack while his left hand rests by his left ear. He's used to fighting with a katana. His style involves a left-handed killing thrust to the head, but it can be adapted for aerial and close range attacks.

_The Gatotsu!_

Strong and swift, most certainly it is a unique technique. Many of the strongest Shinsen Gumi used it during the era of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

My opponent, he's good if he can use it without a blade. Very good.

_A movement!_ My eyes narrow into a glare as he rushes forward to start his attack. He is definitely good, I can tell by his movements, but still not good enough.

Here it comes, the left handed thrust, his final commitment to the attack. Waiting until the last possible moment I dodge ever so slightly to my right, pivoting as I do so. The moment his fist passes his face my left hand traps his fist as I simultaneously jab with my right palm.

The sound of his bones breaking, the muscles and tendons in his arm ripping, it's definitely audible. I look around the field, only a few are close enough to hear it but all can most certainly see the results of my attack. I look back at my opponent; pain is written across his features and for a moment it bothers me...it shouldn't.

I close my eyes to try and shake the image, to shake the feeling, from my head; it has no place in a fight.

I mean, I don't let my momentary concern show but still, his pain and the sound of my attacks effect on his body bother me. I've been taught that to let an opponent's pain affect you is wrong, to care for an opponent is to be weak, even if you know them and/or care about them, and here I am, being bothered by them, caring about how my opponent feels. It must be that my friends are watching, assuming they're still my friends now that they know.

"Don't ignore me! You left yourself open!"

My eyes snap open. Oh? He's still on his feet even as I regain my posture he whips his foot around to try and catch my unguarded head. My unguarded head? I don't think so.

"Wide open?" a cold smile reaches my lips, but not my eyes. "I think not. You mistake my confidence for carelessness? It will be your downfall."

I dodge his attack with ease and leap back a few yards, landing in a stance that begins a personal favorite technique of mine, Sou Ryu Sen. It strikes with the godlike speed inherent of all battou jutsu techniques, however in the strike, if the sword is blocked the sheath if also brought around to strike.

Without my sword, the attacks range is greatly reduced, but it doesn't matter, I'm not planning on actually using a specialized technique from my style of sword on one so weak.

I motion for him to attack.

My opponent is definitely beginning to lose it. His earlier failed attempt to surprise me has unnerved him. "I've studied all of your techniques. I can see through them the moment you start to attack or counter."

"It doesn't matter that you have the eyes to see my attacks if you don't have the speed or strength to stop them. Attack now and all you'll see is the reason they call me _Ryukage!_"

"Ryukage..." to my far right I can hear my sister mutter the name I called myself, "dragon shadow...?" Actually she's not my true sister but the daughter of the family that adopted me, I still think of her as my true sister though; considering I've lived with them for slightly less then four years and I'm an orphan in reality.

For a moment my opponent stands there looking at me, his broken arm hanging limply at his side, then he rushes forward to attack. He's faster than before. All I can see is a blur. It's enough. His killing ki tells me all I need to know; his every move is an open book to me.

I move to strike as well, only I'm slightly faster. It's okay; I'm not using my full speed, to do so would be to commit murder, even with a reverse blade sword I would normally use. I am only aiming to take him out of the fight, not kill him.

"Gatotsu Zero-tsuki!" once again he's committed himself. This time to a close range version on the Gatotsu. It's basically the same thing but he has more force and ability to do damage now that's he's close up. It's different this time though, he's replaced his broken left arm with his right one and his open hands act in place of the blade, seeking to strike and do damage.

Too soon, he committed too soon. At the last instant I change my attack from my Sou Ryu Sen to this, a borrowed technique, "Sanjuu no Kiwami!"

My fist meets his and for a moment, nothing seems to happen, we have met on the field and now one of us will fall. A groan escapes his lips and he flies backwards. My fist is now an open hand.

The Sanjuu no Kiwami. One-step up from the Futae no Kiwami. It implements the idea that all objects, living or otherwise, have an innate resistance to impact.

The original technique strikes twice in an instant shattering the resistance and striking in almost the same moment allowing the full force of the blow to hit the target.

The Sanjuu no Kiwami has the same principle but the opening of the fist into an open hand creates a triple strike instead of a double, he's lucky to still be breathing.

I look at the rest of my attackers; there are two of them. Neither of them looks very eager to fight me but they won't show any fear.

That's good, just as I had remembered them. I can see why these men, shadows from my past, were sent after me.

"Leave now and perhaps you will yet live," my voice rings out across the field.

"Iie! We can not!"

"Why not?"

"We are hitokiri! We will not back down from a fight, to do so would disgrace us."

My eyes narrow once more as I stare icily at them, "You have no honor already, having threatened people who can not defend themselves. What have you left to disgrace?!"

The hitokiri farthest to the left responds, "As ninja and hitokiri you should understand. Our ethics and honor system are different than others. We have only to do what our master command. We will not yield."

"Of course, that which is needed by the ninja to be shinobi, an unbreakable will and a undying determination."

My opponent nods.

"Let's go!" I motion for them to attack, "I am rapidly getting bored by your talk. If have something you need to do then do it. Words won't get your job done!"

"Everyone on the field, who is engaged in combat, put your hands up! This is the police!" it's the three officers from our school; their guns are drawn. They must have come out in time to see my last attack.

I look over, a bemused expression on my face, "This isn't your fight, back away, now!"

"I can't do that son, your putting other people at risk with your private fight. Take it somewhere else or we'll have to take steps."

"Steps?" the leader of the hitokiri glances at me. "Well Ryukage? What's it going to be? You can save the lives of these police officers, or you can leave them to die to my men and then fight us later. The choice is yours."

I look at the hitokiri and then at the police, "Let me ask you officers a question and you have to be honest. Your life may depend on your answer. Do you really think you can do anything about what's going to happen?"

"We will try our best to fulfill our duty as officers of the police force. If you move to attack, us or them we will open fire."

"Then do so for it shall be the only way for you to stop our fight."

Cursing angrily the lead officer opens fire. Calmly I duck my head and dodge each of the shots. "You won't hit me. Reading the angle of your lines of sight and the gun's mouth is simplicity itself!"

"Let me try," the female officer speaks now.

"Tell me officer, how will you hit what you cannot see?"

"What?"

Even as the officer utters those words it's too late for her. I'm already off. This has to end quickly so I use my speed to the best of my ability. I'm in an all out run. There, I'm behind the first two police, a male and a female.

I stop only for a moment, long enough to attack. It probably doesn't look like much. All it appears is that I run each hand down their backs; one hand for each officer. If one were to take a closer look then one would see that I strike as a blur. Seven, seemingly simultaneous, strikes to seven distinctly different spots on the spinal cord.

Not hard enough to break the bone but it serves to take their mobility from them. They're effectively paralyzed, two new quadriplegics. They'll be fine in a few minutes but they can't interfere with our fight. Now for the last officer.

He hasn't even reacted to the fact that his other officers are down, probably because they're not yet. They still haven't fallen. His turn now.

Ahhh, he's started to react. To slow! I side step his attack easily and strike with the side of and open hand to the side of his neck. He crumples to the ground, probably hasn't even registered the pain yet.

The police are down, in no more than a few seconds and I return my attention to the hitokiri. They're good, all of them. To bad, I hate to see such talent wasted.

They come at me with no hesitation, but something's different. They don't attack me outright; instead they're simply playing tag with me, attacking but barely within range. Then leaping out of the way.

For a moment it doesn't make sense. Then I see behind them. Their fallen comrade has started to get to his feet. Impressive, they risk their lives to save their comrade.

He probably won't live anyway, definitely not what I had wanted or intended. His body has sustained too many injuries, mainly from the Sanjuu no Kiwami, but they're trying to save him anyway.

I'm truly impressed, not many would do that.

As one they break away to retrieve their fellow assassin. They look at me, some with astonishment, some with excitement, but all with not a little fear and wariness warring in their features. They were sent to take me out, but they didn't. Those that survive...they will grow stronger. Perhaps the next time we fight they will be an actual challenge, or not...it is up to them.

Their leader speaks once more, "I thank you, my one time comrade, for sparing us and leave you with this parting piece of knowledge; it was not the emperor that sent us after you, it was another member of the imperial family. I leave you with that as thanks, as something to think on."

Even as I throw the blade I had slipped into my hand behind my back, they drop a smoke bomb and are gone in the flash of light and smoke. The dagger hits the padding around the goal post and then drops to the ground. I go to retrieve it.

Ah, they are true shinobi, there are so few left in today's world, it's a shame really.

"Hold it!" one of the police has regained control of her muscles. Her gun is leveled at me. "You're under arrest for resisting an officer."

I glance disdainfully at her, "Please...don't insult me." Then I too, drop a smoke bomb and disappear.

I look at the clock on my wall, 2:20. School got out nine minutes ago. At least it should have, it got out a little early due to unexpected events. Me, I was home around 1:50, having left school around 1:35. I live with about twenty minutes away from school by car, so that's about five, maybe six, kilometers.

I got home by running, not all out but fast enough, about 20 kph. For me top speed is probably about 60 kph, but I can only last for about a minute or two, three is a definite stretch.

I lean back against the tree branch I'm sitting on.

Irritably I push my bangs out of my eyes, and look at myself in the window. I have jet-black air, a result of my Japanese heritage, which hangs down to the middle of my back in a ponytail, except for the bangs; they're but shorter and hang down the side of my face to about my jaw line. My eyes are also black as night, while my skin tone is a pale olive with a hint of a tan and I am short. My height, at tops, is only 5'4.

My mind wanders as I review the day's events, more specifically the ones of the afternoon...

_Field day, the final culmination of spirit week at Pine Grove High. It involves lots of different field events. Each grade puts forth a certain amount of competitors. Then, we battle. The seniors always win, and they tell us it's not rigged, right..._

_The games started but something was wrong. I could sense someone watching us, no, not someone, more than one. I looked around. They were in the trees across the football field. _

_Who the hell is it?_

_Discreetly I readied two throwing stars. I slipped them from the inside of my long sleeved shirt to the inside of my palms in a matter of seconds. And they wonder why I always wear long sleeves. If only they knew._

_I had only to wait now, wait for them to make the first move._

"_Hey! Ken!" I looked over; it was Henry. He's going out with my sister. _

_Not a bad kid, a bit full of himself and rather quick to anger but still...not a bad kid._

"_What's up?" I asked him._

"_Not much, I was wondering if you'd seen Maria around..."_

"_No, I haven't."_

"_It's all good, I see her now," with that he left me to my own thoughts as he makes his way through the crowd to my sister._

_The event has started and the seniors were in the lead. That wasn't all that surprising, what was surprising was what happened next._

_From out of nowhere, or most likely the far side of the football field, three ninja appeared and sent the field into chaos. In a matter of moments they had wounded and knocked most of the faculty unconscious. Their target must be some one else, and I had feeling I already knew._

_I recognized their styles. I should have, seeing as how the four of us served the emperor and his family in their elite guard._

_Shinomori Aoshi, Urashima Keitaro, and Saito Hajime..._

_We were once comrades, not great friends by any means but we were all selected to enter the training for the elite guard together and swore to be together, guarding each other's backs, until the end._

_That was before I left. Now, I don't know where we stand, but I can't let them continue this. Even though they're probably acting under orders, since none but the imperial family of Japan can command the elite guard._

_Let's see... Saito uses a left handed stabbing attack that can be adapted for aerial and short range attacks. He prefers to use a Japanese long sword but can use a hidden cane sword just as well._

_Keitaro actually prefers to battle using the old style of kempo. His attacks can vary but he can use both short and long range attacks effectively. His favorite move is the Kan Setsu Tobi Kanai, the Kanai being short dagger like blades that can be thrown from a distance._

_Aoshi, he's their leader, he uses a two-kodachi style. Kodachi are a short version of the katana or Japanese long sword. They're smaller so they can be slightly faster than attacks with a katana. The Kai Ten Kenbu Roku Ren is his preferred move. It strikes six times rapidly in succession, allowing almost no time for a reaction._

_All of them use ancient styles of fighting that some might say aren't effective in today's society but when compared to the other styles out there, almost none can match up to us in hand to hand combat or otherwise. After all, can you hit what you can't see?_

_Saito's style has a natural blindside on his left side since that's the arm he attacks with. He'll be easiest to attack._

_There! Saito had started another attack, his specialized left-handed Hiratsuki Gatotsu...with a sword cane? _

_In an instant I reacted, leaping up from my position in the stands to a higher position on a light above the field. Even as I did so, two shuriken leave my respective hands effortlessly. A moment later they struck both the back of Saito's hand and his weapon, effectively shattering his cane sword. _

_Those things are weak anyway._

_The three stopped their attack and looked in my direction. I jumped to the ground effortlessly._

"_Will you fight us or come willingly?" Saito had stepped forward to ask the question. "If you don't come willingly we'll have to fight."_

_For a moment I regarded him silently; then I nodded my head to indicate that I would be fighting. All of them if necessary._

_I stepped forward, noting the slight shock on my opponents face. Inwardly I smiled in satisfaction but outwardly I show no emotion other than cool hatred. These men, assassins, hitokiri, whom only the royal family of Japan can command, were sent to bring me back; by any means needed or possible. They tracked me down to this school and threatened everyone in it. Everybody...including those few I would call my friends...._

"Hey! Ken!"

What the! Oh, it's my sister calling, she and my two best friends from the United States of America.

"What?" I call down from the tree.

"Come on, we have to talk!"

"Okay," I climb down from the tree, as I do I notice it's starting to get dark. I must have been lost in memory longer than I thought.

For a while we walk in silence, only half attempting to speak, the attempts falling heavily into the tension.

The sky grows increasingly darker with hints of a storm coming.

At last, unable to stand the silence I speak, "You guys must be pretty upset with me, huh? For not telling you any of this?"

Selena looks at me, "We're not mad, just kind of disappointed you didn't trust us enough to confide."

I look at my sister and two best friends, "Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you what was I supposed to say, 'Oi, nee-chan, I'm an master swordsman/ninja from Japan who's trying to escape his past and will do anything to achieve that but don't worry your safe as long as you don't cross me'? I don't think so."

Selena threw me a slightly startled look, "You wouldn't, would you?"

"Wouldn't what?"

"Hurt us, your friends, I mean."

"Four years ago, when I first came to the U.S. the answer would have been yes, I would have if it suited my purpose or needs, but now...now I'm not so sure."

Shaun gives sigh, "Don't worry about it."

My eyes narrow as I once more recall the day's events. "But it does worry me, I don't know who sent them, and that puts you in danger. That's all I really want to know, who sent them?" I demand of the sky.

"I did," it is a quiet, familiar voice.

Slowly I turn around to see the face of the one who sent these assassins. I already know who it will be. "Hidenka..." it comes out in a whisper.

"Hai," she responds with the innate grace and poise of a true princess, one I do not remember from my childhood in Japan.

"Naze ka"

"Ken-kun, I...I wanted to see if you were the boy that I remembered. You have no idea how many nights I spent crying myself to sleep after you left...none!"

I venture a tentative guess, "A lot?"

She eyes me steadily for a moment before...

"Hime! What the hell was that for? It hurt!"

She throws a meaningful look at me.

"Okay...so maybe it didn't really but still," I rub the spot on my cheek where she punched me.

"I was crushed when you left," she glares at me. "Watashi no Otoo-sama to Okaa-chan to mina-san. They all couldn't figure out why you left but I knew...anata no juuroku tanjobi. It had to do with a promise we made when we were younger. You couldn't keep your end of the promise, naze ka"

"Hime..." Try as I might my control over my emotions, my control that I so pride myself in, is disappearing. Tears are starting to form in my eyes. Tears that I cannot... will not hold back. "Hime, anata no kazoku...they mean everything to you. You know as well as I do, probably more so than I, that when a female member of the royal family of Japan marries a commoner they lose their status a member of the royal family. You are my Hime; I will protect you always but I couldn't do it, I couldn't take them away from you."

"I'm willing to risk that for you, didn't you know that?" her voice is soft, like velvet, almost a whisper and she too has tears in her eyes.

"Hime, I..."

She puts a finger to my lips to silence me, "Just shut up for once; I have one more thing to do before I leave."

"What?"

Silent but serious, in one sudden motion, she stands on her tiptoes and kisses me lightly on the lips. It was brief and very light; almost a ghost of a kiss but it holds within it a deep passion and fierce longing that shock me.

I stand, paralyzed for a moment, as she smiles gently at me and in the instant after that, disappears into the shadows. Only a gust of wind, my friends and sister remain on the now deserted street.

For a long, tense moment my friends stare at me, then, Maria, my sister speaks, "Something you'd like to tell us, Ken?"

Solemnly I wipe the tears from my face, "My names not actually Ken, it Kenshin, Nagaremono Kenshin, although most people call me Kenshin if they call me anything at all. My surname is Nagaremono and it means Vagabond, which suits me I suppose. That was the Nihon no Naishinno... and my unofficial fiancé."

Selena and Shaun gape at me, "Come again?"

"I'll tell you but only if you swear not to tell anyone."

"Who'd believe us?" Jokes Shaun.

Maria looks seriously at him, "After today's events, a lot of people just might."

Shaun returns her look, "That's true."

As one my three companions look at me expectantly, "Well?"

"Well...where to start?"

"Duh!" Shaun rolls his eyes.

"Okay, okay. My parents died when I was only a few years old so I grew up as an orphan on the streets of Japan. At least, I did until I was about five, old enough to enter school...

_I spent the morning watching the other children my age walking to school, wishing I could be with them. Not a lot of fun since I had tried a few times to talk to them. They always acted like I was a disease, something to stay away from at all costs._

_Shunned and hurt, as always, I walked down the streets of Tokyo _(actually I was within a short distance of the palace if I remember correctly)._ It was a nice day out but it held no joy for me. For me it was just another day with almost no food. Isn't life fun?_

_Right, anyway as I was walking around looking for some sort of food I spotted something that might help me. It was a wallet. I could see the yen sitting on top of it._

_One problem, there was a man sitting next to the wallet. To get it I was going to have to run at full speed and hope I was faster. What the hell, I had nothing better to do._

_So I went for it, breaking into a full run, and even for a full grown adult I'd be pretty fast. Almost a blur, I would guess._

_Anyway, as I sprinted towards this guy I looked for a chance to steal his money but as I closed in he turned to look at me. There was a slightly shocked expression on his face._

_I ignored it and attempted my little bit of thievery. Right, of course I had no such luck. As I got closer he reached out and easily grabbed my arm._

_ "Hey, Gramps...let go of me." _

_ "Were you just trying to steal my money?" He looked at me with an amused expression._

_ "Yeah, so what? I have to eat too you know." My voice calm and even I stared emotionlessly back at him._

_He frowned slightly, "I don't care about that. I want to see what you just did." _

_ "What I just did?" _

_ "When you were running, there was something interesting in what you did. Or I suppose I should say how fast you did it. I could have sworn you were much too far away to get here for at least a moment or two after you actually reached my wallet. Perhaps I was simply not paying enough attention." _

_ "...what...? I don't understand..." I think he expected me to be scared or something, instead I simply stared coolly into his eyes._

_ "I suppose you wouldn't." The man paused for moment to consider how to phrase his question. "I simply wish for you to demonstrate your full speed. Will you show me how fast you can run from here to the corner of the block and back? If you do it I'll give enough yen to last you a while if you spend it wisely." _

_I stared at him for a moment, then I reached a decision, "Okay ojii-sama. You had better pay up though." _

_ "I have plenty of money to spare." _

_ "Fine." I took a moment to focus on my target and took a deep breath. When I was ready a second later I dashed of as fast as I could. I could feel his eyes on me, something about him was different, but I couldn't tell what._

_As I ran back towards him, he knelt down to look me in the eye. "How did you do that?" _

_ "That, you mean run? Can't everyone?" _

_ "No they can't, run at such a high speed at your age, I mean. For anyone's age really." _

_ "I've always been able to, naze ka" my facial expression remained frigidly indifferent._

_For a few minutes he stared at me. "Could it be, the speed of a true born swordsman, shukuchi...? I have use of you boy, come with me!" _

_ "Iie. I have other things to do." _

_ "Like what?" _

_He had a point. I didn't exactly have a lot to fill up my days being an unschooled orphan._

_ "I need your special ability, so you don't really have much of a choice." _

_I stared at him for a moment, not quite understanding what he was telling me. Finally I decided to ignore him. In some semblance of being polite I shook my head, and began to walk away, but even as I turned he struck out with his fist and punched me in the stomach._

_My eyes widened slightly in surprise as I emitted a low groan and fell unconscious._

_The next thing I remember I woke up on a soft futon with the very same man standing over me._

_He looked at me, "Ahhh, so you're finally awake. I didn't mean to hit you quite so hard, gomen." _

_ "What do you want with me?" I stared at him, my cool exterior back in place._

_He tilted his head and gave me a curious look. "Boy? Why don't you smile, or show any emotion, other than a coldly indifferent one?" _

_ "Well, because I live on the streets I get beat a lot. You now, by the other homeless people who live out there," I motioned towards the outside of the house. "So I learned to ignore the pain and remain, at least on the outside, uncaring through all of it. It seemed to make them want to hit me less when I didn't react that much." _

_ "I see, now all you can do is remain outwardly indifferent, even when you are hurt or scared," he looked at me thoughtfully. "I have use of you, your emotionless ki and your incredible, godlike speed." _

_I looked at him again, "I guess I don't have much of a choice do I?" _

_He shook his head, "None." _

_ "Fine, where are we?" _

_ "We are in my section of the imperial palace. I am the youngest son of the current emperor." _

_ "Ooji-sama!" _

_ "If you choose to call me such. My brother has a child, a girl, about your age. I think you shall be trained to be her protector, her shinobi." _

_ "Fine, I guess it has to be better in here than it was out there..." _

"That was when I entered the palace for the first time. I didn't meet the Naishinno until almost a year later when I was six. That's when we became best friends. When we were seven and eight respectively, we promised to marry each other when we got older. We were both very serious and as I got older the seriousness of what I had agreed to sank in. I got scared around my twelfth birthday and ran away to America."

Shaun, Maria, and Selena stare at me.

"Are you serious?" Maria looks incredulous.

I smile, "Always, at least when I fight. Otherwise people wouldn't take me seriously."

"Wait, so you lost your emotions and then gained them again?" Selena looks at me.

"Not exactly, more like I just didn't let them show, except for cold indifference which may not precisely be an emotion, and in time I forgot how to express them. It's one of the reasons I'm such a good assassin, my opponent or target can't feel me approaching."

"But when you first came here you didn't seem indifferent or anything at all. All you showed were blank eyes and an expressionless face. Like you didn't register anything at all," Maria looks at me, confused.

"Yeah, that time I withdrew into myself. I wasn't really apathetic but since I was under a different type of stress I reacted differently, the affect was virtually the same. I give off no discernable emotions."

Shaun glances at his watch, "Damn it! As much as I'd love to hear more about this, it's almost nine o'clock. I missed dinner, and that means I am so grounded I might meet you guys again when hell freezes over if I'm lucky." He pauses as he turns to run off, "It was worth it though. See you guys tomorrow in school."

I groan as my hand covers my face, "Right, if they let me back. I'm pretty much under arrest for assaulting an officer, remember."

"Oh, right. Don't worry about it," Shaun pats me on the back. "You're a ninja. They shouldn't be any problem for you."

"Uh huh..." I reply dryly, catching his eyes. "Is that so? Even I can't dodge bullets from every direction you know."

"Never mind," Selena drags Shaun away. "Let's just see how it plays out. Your Hime may get you diplomatic immunity now that she knows where you are."

"Or she may let me squirm for a while, just for her own amusement," I grumble under my breath.

"Oh, shut up!" Maria tells me. "We have to get home before we get grounded too."

"Okay, okay. I'm coming."

Great, here I am, at 6:45 in the morning, getting ready for zero period gym. Someone want to remind me why I chose an eighth period instead of the normal seven? One that requires me to have an early class that starts before homeroom. As I get off the bus I nod hello to my sister Maria and to my friends, Selena, Shaun.

Maria looks like mom and dad. She has black hair and a tanned complexion, probably because she's Filipino. Her face has a round merry look to it, not chubby or fat but a filled in look; not skinny as a rail like so many other girls in this school.

Shaun is a sandy haired kid, light freckles on his face and an over towering superiority complexion. Unlike Maria he might as well be made out of toothpicks, but he is relatively strong.

Last is Selena, probably my oldest friend here in the US. Aside from Maria she was the first one to try and understand me. She is Mexican American with curly, dark brown hair cut short except for her bangs. They hang straight around her face.

Apparently someone did something because nothing happened when I got home last night or when I came to school this morning. Nothing happened, no phone call or anything else that would signify trouble for me.

That's a good thing I guess, but it makes me wonder, who's pulling what strings around here? I'm almost positive my hime doesn't have that kind of authority, so then who's doing all of this. The only person I can think who could, wouldn't.

School's different today, almost everyone, except for my sister and my two best friends is keeping their distance. I should have expected that of course but still...it hurts, more than I care to admit.

I mean, some of the people who were nice to me before are still nice to me, but it's like everyone has their guards up around me. As if they think that I might try to kill them if they get to close to me.

Okay, so they're not incorrect. Well, they are, sort of. At least they wouldn't have been completely of the mark four, maybe even three years ago when I came to this country. Back then the only thing that mattered to me was protecting my hime, from everything and anything possible. That meant that I had to leave or she'd hurt herself by trying to convince herself that she was in love with me so our 'arranged marriage' would be easier for her.

At least, that's what I told myself then. To be honest, I was scared, scared of committing to a promise I may not have wanted to or even been able to keep. I didn't want to have to see my hime's face when I told her that I couldn't go through with it so I ran, as far and fast as I could.

That's how I ended up in this town with no place else to go. Only this time it was different, I projected a blank, uncomprehending, expressionless attitude instead of a stony, indifferent one. By the time I got here I had bottled up all my emotions again, so as not to get hurt. In time I learned to be human again, thanks to the people I met here but still, it never quite seemed right.

Whenever I'm under extreme stress or experiencing particularly strong emotions I tend to revert to how I was before, either cold and uncaring or uncomprehending and blank. Generally I'm colder as it gets a "better" response from people.

I exit the locker room, behind me I can here people talking about me. If they're going to talk about me they should just say it to their faces. I have more than enough control to put up with their insults, maybe.

"Hey! Ken!" it's not the voice of Selena or Maria and it's definitely a female voice.

I turn around and see that it's Hei Hua. She's a Chinese girl, a year older than me in her senior year. She's cool, even if a bit insane. With her are her friends and mine, Cristin and Ariel.

Actually Hei Hua isn't her real name, I don't know what it is but everyone calls her Hei Hua, it means "dark flower" in Mandarin. It fits her rather well actually. Her hair is jet black and down to the middle of her back, as usual it's in some intricate braid.

Cristin is a Caucasian girl; her hair is a wavy blond while her skin is a pale white.

As for Ariel, she has medium length dirty blond/brown hair. Her skin is olive tone and she is almost always in a perpetual happy mood.

Wait...why the hell am I paying so much attention to the way my friends look today? It's never really meant that much to me. As I pause to think about it the answer is obvious. No matter what happens today I'm leaving. I can't bring myself to put my friends in harms way. Besides, staying here defeats the purpose of running away if they know I'm here.

"Hey, what's up?" I wave to them.

They look at me with blank incomprehension.

"Oops..." I spoke in Japanese without thinking about it.

"Can you ask Mr. Olden for our history homework?" Hei Hua asks me.

"Won't you be there?"

"No." Her reply is short and terse.

I look questioningly at Cristin. She exchanges a slightly worried look with Ariel.

"Um...I know you may not trust me any more but what's going on?"

Cristin looks at me like I'm an idiot, "We still trust you but, it's just, we're kind of disappointed you didn't trust us enough to confide."

"Whoa, de ja vu..."

"What?" Cristin looks curious.

"Um...Maria, Selena, Shaun; last night."

"Oh."

"At any rate," Ariel looks briefly at Hei Hua for permission. "Hei Hua's father had a heart attack in Kyoto, Japan the night before yesterday. He's conscious but the doctors say he's not out of the woods yet. She's going to visit him for a week and her plane leaves later today so she's leaving school early.

"We were supposed to tell you yesterday, and were still going to after your little skirmish but you ran off, so we didn't get a chance."

"So then, that would be my fault?"

"Yeah, that would be your fault." Hei Hua looks at me with mock disgust. "It's always your fault."

"Of course it is," I roll my eyes in response. "Anyway...um, about the homework, I don't think so..."

"Why not?"

Cristin looks confused, as does Ariel, but Hei Hua, who has always been good at reading people, has already figured it out. I can see it in her eyes.

"He's not going to be here when I get back."

"What!" Selena looks at me surprised, while Ariel just ponders what her friend has told her. "Why not?"

"Because of you guys," I motion to them with my hand.

"Excuse me?" Cristin's eyes darken. "Because of us?"

"I won't put you in danger by remaining here."

"That's not it though, is it?" Hei Hua's look is penetrating. "Not entirely. There are other reasons aren't there?"

"Yes," I agree, "but I won't tell the other reasons. Too much of a risk for you, especially if the emperor thinks you know something. Those shinobi yesterday, it's called plausible deniability. I have to go to homeroom now. Ja ne!"

Slowly the day passes by...each moment an eternity as I take in the sights and sounds in preparation for my departure. Finally last period comes around.

I look out the window of my classroom. I'm only half paying attention to the teacher. It's only US history, not really that important to me.

Out of the corner of my eye I see a limo pulling up to the school. It has the flags of the Japanese embassy on the front of the hood.

Ah, shit. This is not good.

If they're sending an ambassador from the embassy over to the school they must want me back in Tokyo. I never wanted to go back there again, ever. Of course, I never wanted a lot of things.

I watch the limo park in front of the school and two men walk into the main office.

Moments later, Nagaremono Kenshin please report to the office

I ignore it, concentrating on the teacher instead.

I repeat, will Nagaremono Kenshin please report to the office!

Sighing I get up and head for the door.

"Where are you going Ken?" Mr. Olden gives me a strange look.

"I'm reporting to the office as told to," I reply, smiling slightly at the shock on my teacher face as I walk out the door. They may have seen me yesterday but they still didn't know my real name, must have been a bit of a shock.

As I walk down the hallway I think about who I'm going to be facing, most likely an ambassador of some sort. Wonderful, they always get so full of themselves.

Sighing I compose myself to answer to them.

When I get down to the office I see that there are two men waiting for me. They don't look friendly...of course that could just be my paranoia talking. The one on the right I recognize, it is my ooji-sama, Akishino-sama. Since the current emperor already has an heir, his oldest son, he would be the next in line, unless of course his older brother's daughter marries a nobleman and then he gets pushed back another step in the line of succession.

The other looks like a bodyguard of sorts, not like the imperial prince needs any protection but still...

I bow slightly to them, my face a mask, keeping my eyes on them at all times, "Nan desu ka" 

"We have a request from the Tenshi. He asks that you appear before him, on the 28th of October, in the audience chamber of the imperial palace." 

"The 28th is tomorrow though." I am momentarily startled by the nearness of the date at first, before understanding sinks in.

"He has faith in your abilities, and so do I." 

"Is there anything else?" My understanding changes to an irrational flood of anger as I eye them coldly.

"Nothing," they bow slightly and leave.

For a moment I stand staring after them thinking, then the bell rings and I head for my bus. I don't bother to go to my locker or get my books from my last class.

If things go the way I think they will then I won't need them any more.

_** "Where am I?" I look around. I recognize nothing.**_

_** "You're in hell, isn't that obvious?" I whirl around. There stands the crown prince's younger brother. "The only way to escape your eternal damnation is to return to Japan." **_

_**I stare stonily at him, "I have no reason to return to Japan. There is nothing for me there. That is why I left." I turn and start to walk away.**_

_** "What about your hime?" **_

_**I stop dead in my tracks, "Boku no hime ka" **_

_** "Hai, how would your hime feel?" **_

_** "Hime..." **_

_**My ooji-sama steps next to me, "What was it you said to me once, when you were younger? 'Kanojo wa boku no hime desu! I will do whatever it takes to defend and protect her! No matter what the cost!'" **_

_** "Demo..." **_

_** "But nothing, you broke your vow to your hime, it is as simple as that," he walks away and getting into his car and leaving.**_

_** "Matte!" I reach a hand out after him.**_

_** "You left me!" **_

_** "Hime!" I spin around to confront my princess.**_

_** "Don't call me that! You gave up the right to when you left!" **_

_** "But!" **_

_** "But nothing...you have forsaken your vow, you are no shinobi!" she fades into the shadows.**_

_** "HIME!" I chase after her, only I run in eternal darkness, never falling or hurting myself, but unable to escape either.**_

"Wha!" I bolt awake. For a moment I can't tell where I am, and then I remember. I'm on a plane on my way back to Japan...to bad for the man who I had to incapacitate of to get on it.

I didn't kill him, in spite of my training. Something kept me from doing it and I have a fairly good idea what...the memory of my friends. However, that's all they are now, memories, kinda sucks, huh?

In 48 hours the life I had in the United States was shattered, by my own hand as well as those of the ninja sent after me, I returned to the one place I swore I'd never return to, courtesy of a plane flight that Hei Hua alerted me to, and got re-engaged to my best friend.

What a life...

Not that I had a whole lot of options in America. Despite my unique physical abilities, I was, and still am a mediocre student at best.

I did what I absolutely had to do in order get by, my grades were mostly C's, one or two A's and a few B's, out of eight classes.

I don't really care about academics; I have a certain amount of raw intelligence and ability to assimilate facts, that's it. I normally don't do the whole homework thing, and I certainly don't study.

This all being the case I didn't have a whole lot options for what to do with my life, but I did have friends.

Sorry guys, Maria, Cristin, Shaun, Hei Hua, Selena, Ariel, and everyone else... This is something I have to do, for myself. I'll miss you though, funny, I hadn't thought about missing anyone but my hime in a long time. Nobody else has ever been that important to me.

The plane lands at around two in the morning Japan time, and the city is still busy. I get out, Kyoto, I like the city but it just another stop on my way to the imperial palace in Tokyo.

Still grumbling about my rotten luck I get on the magnet train and arrive an hour or so later in the wonderful capital of Japan, the city known to the world as Tokyo.

Tokyo...wonderful, the one place I promised myself I'd never return to, ever. I am _so_ glad I came back.

Sullenly I head for the palace. When I get there I don't bother to use the main entrance, instead I hop over the wall and onto the roof of the palace.

I make no sound as I do this, for a moment I simply sit on top of the palace; then I run to a specific garden and jump down. I stand there silently and take in the sights, sounds and smells.

"It's been a while since you've been here...Nagaremono-kun" 

I don't even need to turn around, "Ooji-sama." 

"Hai, what made you decide to return; I didn't think you would be after the last time we spoke." 

"Yes you did, you knew damn well that I'd be here, because you know how well I know tomorrows date. It's my hime's birthday..." the last part comes out as a whisper.

He gives a small laugh, "True, I did know you would be back, because I know how your strange sense of honor works. You obey only your own morals and will fight to protect the imperial family to the death but first and foremost above all else, even if it means violating everything that you believe you must obey and protect your hime.

"Since I did have the privilege of knowing that you would return, I took the initiative to have the servants clean up your old room, no one's been in it, except for my niece, in the four years you've been gone, so it should be as you remember it..." 

"Aside from her little changes she was always making," I mutter half heartedly under my breath.

My Ooji-sama smiles slightly, "For now I suggest you get some sleep, tomorrow may be a rather stressful day, no matter what happens. Are you ready?" 

I give him a reproachful look, "When have I not been?" 

He shakes his head as he gives another small laugh. "Just get some sleep. You'll need it." 

I awoke early the next morning to the sound of someone entering my small section of the palace.

In an instant my favorite sword, which I keep in arms length of the bed, is in my hand, the blade half drawn, when I hear a startled oath.

I open my eyes and look up at the intruder; it's my hime, probably visiting my quarters as the imperial prince said she did, simply to remind herself of our promise...and make her little changes that she's prone to making in my life. She probably wasn't expecting to see me here.

"Ohayo Gozaimasu, hime..." I smile gently at her.

"Baka!" She hits me. "When did you get in?" 

"Last night around midnight," I rub my head, what the hell? This is getting to be a bad habit of hers, "I let myself in, only Ooji-sama knows I'm here; besides you that is." 

She looks at me seriously, "Why did you return, Ken-chan?" 

I return her look, "Because I broke my promise to you, I wasn't there to protect you for four years.

"I had to come back, not for the reasons that the rest of your family wants me back but because I had to keep my promise to you. Without following your commands I betray the only real reason I have to exist. You are my reason; I have nothing else that truly keeps me going.

"And plus, the Ooji-sama paid me a visit during the middle of school, how was I supposed to ignore him then?" 

"I suppose not. Ne? Ken-chan? Why do you always call my uncle by his official title and never by his name, Akishino?" 

"Hm? Oh, it's because before I met you, when I was first being rained he was my prince, my master. I suppose it's an old habit I simply don't bother to try and break. It's not like it's a big deal or anything." 

"Ah," she smirks slightly.

"What's with the smirk?" 

"Smirk?" she looks innocently at me. "What smirk? I'm just happy to see you. That's all." 

"Oh, so you smirk at everyone you're happy to see." 

"Well...no..." She admits after a moment of silence. "But, you're different from most other people. Especially to me." 

Her statement causes me to think as she leaves to prepare for the ceremony later that day. She's planning something, I just know it. The question is, as always, what?

As I enter the audience chamber of the imperial palace, I guess you could call it a thrown room for lack of a better term, I think of the dream I had on my way to Japan...

"Hime..." the word escapes my lips unbidden. The emperor looks at me strangely for a moment before returning his attention to his granddaughter and the young men before him.

Why the hell am I back here anyway?

I know the reason, because my Ooji-sama was correct and so was my hime's dream counter part, I ran away from my promise. A promise to the person that means more than anything else in the world to me.

I broke my vow to my hime, that I would always protect her. I ran away four years ago and for those years I wasn't there to protect my best friend.

I'm here because I got guilted into it, by the Shinno no anii-san and the memory of my best friend, my hime.

My best friend stands there, an unsure, almost scared look on her face. I've never seen my hime look scared before, never.

Honestly though, I'd be scared in her position too. Both her father and her grandfather want her to choose a husband from the men the emperor has assembled. All are lords and lordlings of the Japanese empire. All are eligible to take the throne should they be chosen by her as worthy enough to be her husband.

I don't even know why I'm here. As a ninja/master swordsman, I have no eligibility to marry her, not if she wants to retain her title of Naishinno. Not to mention her status as a member of the imperial family.

Besides, her father and grandfather would kill me if I even suggested anything of the sort.

Still, why do her eyes keep flickering in my direction? She's up to something, my hime always is. The question is the same as earlier; what?

"...must choose well, Setsuna." Her father is standing next to his father, the emperor, "The choice of who will be your husband will affect how you live the rest of your life." 

"Otoo-sama, Okaa-sama, Ojii-sama, Obaa-sama I... I can't do this" once again her eyes flicker in my direction as she rushes on, unwilling to let anyone interrupt her. "I can't choose any of them. It's not that they aren't capable of being good emperors but I refuse to marry them simply because I have to. So, since I must choose a husband and I see none here worthy of the honor I fall back on a promise made years ago." 

As these words leave her mouth I cast a quick glance around the room. Her grandfather, father, mother, aunt, and uncle have tensed slightly, they know what's coming.

"As these are the circumstances that I find myself in, I, I choose...I choose to marry...Ken-chan." 

A startled murmur runs through the crowd assembled, even as an angry muttering starts among the young noblemen who were seeking to advance their position in our hierarchy.

"Ojoo-san...are you sure?" her mother, Masako-san, throws me an angry look as if to say this is all my fault. Her husband on the other hand simply looks thoughtful, albeit a bit angry with me, as if this doesn't surprise him but still goes against his grain.

"Okaa-san, Otoo-san mo. I respect your opinions, demo, I also know what my heart tells me to be true. I love him but I will only marry him if he consents. I will not force him, and I know that would be within my abilities Naishinno." 

"Not if you marry that shiseiji," the speaker is unidentifiable but the insult is not.

Setsuna looks around angrily, "Who dares to insult Ken-chan?" 

Nobody volunteers an answer.

"It doesn't bother me," my voice is ice even as I smile. My hime looks me in the eye and I give her a 'watch this' look only she can understand, in return. She smiles slightly. "Anyone who has a problem with my hime's choice can 'discuss' it with me later, if they so wish." 

The challenge has been issued, I wonder if anyone will accept.

Why I'm not surprised when no one does?

I turn my gaze to the emperor, "Heika, Kogo mo, I would ask time to consider this request as I had no idea that my hime had planned this. I believe you and your son may wish to have words with your granddaughter on this topic." 

"Hai, you are dismissed Nagaremono-san. I would ask that you not return until summoned, as you are not supposed to be eligible for this honor. My granddaughter and I, as well as my wife, my son and his wife, have much to discuss. Mina-san mo, you are all dismissed." 

I walk out of the room; maybe I should forgo any of my normal ninja theatrics. Such as disappearing into the shadows and such...

As I begin to walk out the door I barely take notice of the confused and questioning looks that follow me. I can understand why they would be confused. I never simply walk out of the room, not my style.

Fine, if they want a show, they should get one I guess. If it puts their minds at rest...I disappear. To a trained eye, such as hime's or the emperors or even Akishino-san, I can actually be seen to a certain extent, but only because I was four steps from true shukuchi.

Shukuchi- that which surpasses the already godlike speed of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu; it's a rare body technique by which one springs from initial speed to top speed through great strength of the legs, penetrating the range of your opponents weapon in an instant. In layman's terms, it looks as though the distance between the two fighters had suddenly shrunk. Hence the name of shukuchi or shrinking ground.

It's the reason I was taken in as a prodigy from the streets. There is one more reason, at least that I know of, I can suppress my emotions. It took time and originally I had trouble learning to express them as growing up on the streets had effected my emotional maturation, but now I can suppress them if needed, or wanted.

Lost in thought I wander around the castle for a while.

What is Setsuna-chan thinking? We're supposed to be best friends, nothing else. At least, that's what I think. I guess she saw something else in our friendship, something that I obviously missed.

Sighing to myself I slip out a gift from Setsuna, she gave it to me a few years before I left, when I turned ten.

It is a simple wooden flute but at the same time it holds great value to me. Setsuna-chan was the first to understand that I could experience emotion, I just didn't show it, and that I took joy in things other than fighting.

I bring the flute to my lips and begin to play, a simple tune but it suits me. The sound drifts over the courtyard as it starts to rain and I drift into memory.

_The only reason Setsuna-chan found out that I could show emotion was because she saw me crying once. That was the start of our friendship. I was about six; she was almost a year younger at five. _

_It was raining._

_I was sitting on the castle walls, nursing some bruises I had received from my sensei. I was crying._

_ "Boy, why are you crying?" _

_ "I'm not crying," hurriedly I wiped away the tears._

_ "Honto ne" _

_ "Yes, really. I don't cry." _

_ "Is that why you always look so angry, because you can't let out you sorrow?" _

_ "Iie, Miyasama. When I was smaller, and lived on the streets, I used to get beat a lot. You now, by the other people who live out there," I motioned towards the other side of the wall. "So I learned to act as if it didn't bother me. It seemed to make them want to hit me less." _

_ "But you were just crying, naze ka" _

_ "I told you, I wasn't crying." _

_ "Really?" The naishinnó hopped up onto the wall next to me. "Then what's this?" She wiped my tear-streaked face gently._

_ "It's nothing, I...I, it's nothing...the rain...I don't cry." _

_ "I could make you tell me the truth you know." _

_I looked at her, inwardly shocked, but still with no expression written on my face, "I suppose that's true enough. So then the truth...is...the truth is that I'm crying. I'm crying because I get hurt all the time. I thought life in the palace would be different from out there but I'm still getting hurt and no one seems to care." _

_ "I care," she looked me in the eye._

_ "Why?" The word leapt from my mouth with no warning. "Gomen, Miyasama. I didn't mean to sound rude..." _

_ "Don't worry about it. I care because that's what friends do." _

_ "Friends?" _

_ "Yeah, I'll see you later, Kenshin-kun." _

_ "-kun? Nani, how do you know my name?" _

_ "I've been watching you for a while; waiting for the right time to try and be your friend, so now we're friends." _

_ "Ojoo-san!" _

_She hopped down from the wall, "Sore wa watashi no okaa-sama desu, so I have to go now; by the way, my name's Setsuna. Ja-ne!" _

_Another time, a few years later...Setsuna is a little older than seven while I'm almost eight. We're sitting under a tree in one of the many gardens on the premises, this one happens to be Setsuna's private garden._

_It was raining then too._

_ "Ne, Ken-nii-sama," Setsuna looked at me._

_ "Hmm?" I looked at my best and most likely only true friend._

_ "How do you feel about me?" _

_I laughed, "What kind of question is that?" _

_ "How do you feel about me?" _

_ "I don't get it. What kind of question is this?" _

_ "How do you feel about me? I want a serious response, not one of your whimsical, lackadaisical responses you normally give my questions." _

_My eyes narrowed into a serious expression, "I think honestly that you are my best friend in the entire world. I care more about you than anything else in the world," a mischievous twinkle entered my eyes, "except of course my sword." _

_Laughing I ducked out of the way of my hime's punch. _

_ "I thought I said not bull shit responses!" _

_ "Well actually," I stopped in mid-sentence. My hime's expression has changed from laughing amusement to serious._

_ "Do you care enough?" _

_ "Enough?" I didn't understand the question._

_ "When I get older, will you marry me on my sixteenth birthday? The age at which I am required to become betrothed?" _

_ "I'm just a ninja and a swords master, in training. Why would you want to marry me?" _

_ "Because you're my best friend. I trust you, and would rather marry you than a stranger any day." _

_ "In that case, sure. But it's still almost nine years awa-mmmmm!" _

_Suddenly, without warning, Setsuna had leaned forward an kissed me on the lips, "Also, it might be nice to be able to kiss you whenever I wish..." Laughing merrily she danced out of the garden and into the castle leaving me to stunned to follow._

_A few years later, Setsuna is nine; I have just turned ten and am practicing in the courtyard._

_ "Oi! Ken-kun!" _

_ "Nani? Miyasama!" _

_ "Here," Setsuna handed me a present._

_ "What's this for?" I ask._

_ "It's for your birthday, baka," she smiled at me._

_I blinked in surprise, "Oh. Arigato-gozaimasu. No one has ever given me a present before. Not really, no one except my parents and their gone now." _

_ "What did they give you?" _

_ "This," I pull it out of my clothes. It's a small spinning top, one of the kinds where you wrap the string around the stick at the top and when you pull it, it starts to spin._

_ "It's really the only thing I have left to remember them by." _

_ "I'm sorry Ken-kun," _

_ "Don't worry about it, I don't," Setsuna gave me a look like she doesn't quite believe me. "It's in the past now." _

_ "Ah, open it," she pointed the gift she had given me._

_ "Okay, okay, I'm working on it." _

_Carefully I unwrapped the gift. It's been wrapped very carefully._

_I gasped slightly as I saw what is inside the wrapping; it was a fine wooden flute. Nicely polished, probably made from cedar wood._

_ "Domo arigato gozaimasu, Hime..." _

_ "Hime?" She looked questioningly at me._

_ "You are my princess, and I will do whatever it takes to protect you." _

_ "Honto ne!" Setsuna's face lit up._

_ "Uh huh," I smiled gently at her. "Consider a way of showing how much I care. If you need my services ask, you will never have to order me like another member of your family would. I will serve you before all others." _

_ "Arigato! Ken-kun!" she hugged me fiercely._

_ "You don't have to thank me," I smiled. "It's a ninja's job to protect his master. Besides, you gave me a present that's very dear to me, friendship, and this lovely flute." _

_ "Play something on it," she instructed._

_ "Okay, here goes nothing," slowly I tested out the flute. Its pitch were clear and perfect. I sank into the tune coming out of the flute, get wrapped up in it completely..._

"Very nice, Nagaremono-san," a soft clapping sound came from the other side of the courtyard.

I stop playing my flute and look up, "Ooji-sama!" 

"If you choose to call me such," he smiles. "I'm glad to see you back where you belong." 

"I wouldn't have been back if my hime hadn't dragooned me into it." 

"Love kinda sucks, huh?" 

"I don't know if I love her or not," I reply.

"You love her alright, just don't get so caught up in being a ninja or swords master that you forget who it is you truly are or what it is you truly live for." 

"Huh?" 

"You never wanted to be a swordsman. It was just something you had to do to keep off the street. I could tell from the first time you picked up blade, but you were committed to it and your special abilities made you exceptionally good at it.

"Find something else to live for except the fight, if I am wrong and you haven't already, for in time the fight will make you a hollow person from killing to often. I know you've kept fighting, or at least kept in training and condition, even while you were away." 

"How could you know?" 

Akishino reaches over and turns up the palm of my hand, "These are sword callus's, so I know you've been doing something to stay in shape, I'd guess training, or slaying the evil doer, depending on how you look at you personal philosophy...

"Look, you can think whatever you want but someone once said that 'to have a beautiful mind is a great thing, but it is an even greater thing to have a beautiful heart.' Ja ne!" He gives me a knowing nod before walking away from me, letting his words sink in.

I think hard for while, his words have affected me on a level that very few things have ever been able to do.

The sun sets and rises before I reach a decision. When I am finally called back to the meeting room, I know what my answer will be.

Silently I stand in the doorway of the room in which I shall hear the emperor's decision. "Domo arigato gozaimasu...mina-san..." I whisper my thanks, to anyone who helped in coming to this decision, whether they know it or not. For no matter what the result, this day, for intents and purposes is the most important day of my entire life.

I look around once, taking in the situation in a single sweeping glance. My hime is sitting off to the side. Her eyes are worried, and perhaps a bit sad. The crown prince and his consort are sitting, watching me; neither their expressions nor their eyes betray anything. The Shinno no anii-san stares at me, his eyes twinkle as if he knows something that I do not, which is most likely; he's not even trying to hide it, and I know he can if he really wanted to, he's teasing me.

These four people are the four most important people to me in the world, no matter what the outcome they will forever remain close to my heart for the part they have played in life.

Slowly I step into the room. I take a slow breath and force myself to smile slightly.

This is it, the proverbial moment of truth and I have no idea what's going to happen, one of the few times in my short life that I am completely unprepared for what's going to happen.

Silently I present myself before the emperor and bow, showing my servitude.

"Nagaremono Kenshin, you have been asked by the Nihon no Naishinno to be her husband, how will you respond?" 

I suck in a breath of air to try and calm myself. "I accept Tenno." I turn to Shinno Naruhito and his consort Naishinno Masako, "Shinno, Naishinno mo. I ask your permission to marry your daughter, Naishinno Setsuna. Do I have your permission?" 

"Hai..." Shinno Naruhito replied. "You have our permission...to marry our daughter, the Nihon no Naishinno." 

I swallow hard and look over at Setsuna-chan. Her eyes are shinning and she smiles ever so slightly.

Silently I observe the stars from the roof of the castle. It's a bit chilly since it is the middle of October but I don't mind. I need the time to organize my thoughts; marriage is a big step after all, especially if it's your best friend. That's okay though, liking someone is a place to start, caring and love can come later.

Suddenly I sense a presence behind me, "Dare wa nan desu ka" 

"Akishino desu." 

"Ah," I smile at him. "What is it 'otoo-san'?" I call him father jokingly.

He gives me a strange look, "Otoo-san ka" 

"I wasn't serious." 

"What would you say if I could truly be your father? Legally I mean?" 

"I don't know, honestly. You've been the father figure in my life for as long as I can remember but there was always something wrong, the possibility that you and Kiko-sama would have child, so I never really felt comfortable." 

"That was true, yes..." 

_Was true...!_ I look sharply at Akishino-san but his bland expression reveals nothing.

I muse over what he has told me for a moment. As I respond a sad smile touches my faces, "I think I would like to actually be your son, Akishino-sensei, but wouldn't that put me in line for succession to the thrown?" 

"Hai," my ooji-sama nods his head. "But only if my brother's wife has no more children." 

"She's in her mid-forties, and showing no further signs of fertility. I sincerely doubt she can bear any more children, besides, having Setsuna-chan nearly killed her..." 

"Nani!" The prince looks sharply at me. "How did you find that out? I doubt more than six people know, my father and mother, my brother and his wife, obviously and my wife and I. How did you find out?" 

I snort derisively, "I'm not stupid, and I had exceptionally good training, I put two and two together...and got three..." 

"Hm," he grins at me, "I should have known you would know." 

"Yes, you should have." 

"You know," he gives me an indecipherable look, "I can't seem to figure you out. Your personality seems to change at every other odd moment. I know four things for sure about you: your fighting abilities, your dedication to my niece, your strange code of conduct, and that I like you. Other than that I can't seem to understand you." 

"Don't try to," I advise him. It'll just give you a headache. I tried to figure myself out once and all that happened was my getting my head knocked up my ass by my hime in a sparring session." 

Akishino-sama shudders slightly at the mental image. "Then it's probably a good idea not to try to figure you out then. Goodnight..." he left as silently as he had come.

I sit there for a while longer, simply watching the sky and thinking about nothing in particular when I sense another presence behind me. This one's so familiar I don't bother to ask who it is.

"Hime," I acknowledge her presence with a smile.

"You know, I'm no longer your hime." 

I look at her, suddenly quite serious, "You will always be my hime, Setsuna-chan, always, nothing will ever change the fact that I will protect you should it cost me my life.

"Besides, I don't think you're going to be completely losing your status in the imperial family. Ooji-sama, hinted at the possibility that I may be adopted by him and Kiko-san." 

"What!" her expression is one of shocked disbelief.

"He only hinted at it, so I wouldn't get my hopes up to soon." 

"Still..." 

"Yeah..." 

For a while we sit there in the silence, simply enjoying being together in the night.

Setsuna reaches out and takes my hand in hers. I look over startled and she tightens her grip on my hand, I smile. Still holding her hand I pull Setsuna into my arms.

She looks up at me and for some reason the self-satisfied smirk on her face that all females seem to know how to make instinctively. It makes me uneasy.

"Kiss me," the tone in her voice leaves no room for argument, not that I would have anyway.

As our lips touch our eyes close. I let myself sink into the moment, the feeling of our lips together sends electricity through me. I feel alive as I have never before yet still as grounded in reality as I have ever been.

For me this is a beginning, to become the husband of my best friend will change everything I have ever known to be true about my place in life, but in this timeless moment it doesn't matter, nothing matters, except for her.

... translated from Japanese

Terms used:

Anata no juuroku tanjobi- your sixteenth birthday

Anata no kazoku- your family

Arigato- thanks

Boku no hime ka- My hime?

Demo- but/ however

Heika- Your Imperial Majesty (reserved for emperor/empress of Japan)

Hime- princess

Hidenka- your imperial highness (reserved for crown prince/princesses and their consorts or concubines)

Hitokiri- assassin

Honto ne- really

Kanojo wa boku no hime desu- She is my hime

Dare wa nan desu ka- who is it?

Kogo: emperor's wife (Empress consort)

Miyasama: an imperial prince or princess (form of address equivalent to imperial highness)

Mo- and/also/too

Naishinno- crown princess

Nan desu ka- what is it?

Naze ka- Why?

Ne, Kenshin-nii-sama- Hey, brother Kenshin (a more respectful form of Kenshin, or any other name. Denotes a sense of closeness to the one addressed)

Nihon no Naishinno- crown princess of Japan

No-miya: translated as "prince/princess of..." or simply "prince/princess..."

Nyoo: princess of the imperial blood

Obaa-sama- Grandmother

Oi, nee-chan- Hey, sister

Ojoo-san- daughter (respectful form)

Ojii-sama- Grandfather/ old man

Okaa-san- mother

Ooji-sama- prince

Otoo-san- father

Sensei- teacher

Shiseiji- fatherless/illegitimate child

Shinno- Crown Prince

Shinno no anii-san- Crown Prince's younger brother

Sore wa watashi no okaa-sama desu- that's my mom

Tenshi: alternate term for the reigning Japanese monarch (male or female)(literally means "son of Heaven")

Tenno: reigning Japanese monarch (male or female)(literally meaning the "heavenly sovereign"

Tenno Heika: His Imperial Majesty the Emperor (of Japan)

Watashi no Otoo-sama to Okaa-chan to mina-san- My father and mother and everyone


	2. A Family in All but Blood ch 2

AN- first- is the second repost of this story. I really happen to like it and am a sucker for reviews. Even flames are welcome, as long as they are constructive.

second- the Japanese in this is not perfect, but based, rather on my limited understanding of it. please be forgiving if I used some words and phrases incorrectly.

third- this is an edited edition where in I tried to be more consistent in my use of tenses when writing.

fourth- assume any conversation between the narrator and someone Japanese is in Japanese cause fanfiction won't allow those little side things like asterisks and the carrots and stuff. again, thanks for the understanding

fifth- there's a little section where I had to play with the international time zones and everything. Hopefully it works, if not I'm sorry but I really tried to get it correct there.

A Family in All But Blood Ch. 2

As I sit at the computer in front of me I think back on the night a week ago, the one on the rooftop when Setsuna and I kissed. Slowly a blush creeps up to my cheeks.

"What are you thinking about?"

"...!" I turn around to find myself staring at Setsuna-chan. "Oh, it's nothing."

"Yes it is, you're blushing."

"I am not!"

"Yes, you are," she says it so mater-of-factly I can't really disagree. "So?"

"So, what?" I ask.

"What are you blushing about?"

"As if you didn't know," I smirk slightly. This time she's the one to blush. "That's what I thought."

For a moment we just sit there laughing at each other, being friends.

Then something passes over her face, so quickly I almost miss it, but I don't. "Okay, spill it, what do you want?"

"I was thinking about your friends from America."

"Naze ka"

"They only know the you from when you were in the U.S. and I was just wondering if they know anything about the real you, the one that those of us from Japan know."

I look at her for a moment before sighing, "They do know the real me, it's just another me. The one that exists in their minds is the only one they know or that I let them see so to them he is as real as the me from four years ago in Japan is to you."

"And yet when I see you there is something different, no," she pauses to reconsider, "perhaps it is not in you but there is something different."

"What's different?"

She gives a defiant, yet almost sad look, "We are...both of us." She exits my room in silence leaving me alone with here words echoing hollowly in my ears.

"What the...?" I speak in English without thought. "We're different?"

Shaking my head I return my attention to the computer screen, back to what I had been doing before. With any luck my mission will be done by late morning, at the latest.

Setsuna's POV:

I leave Ken-chan's room feeling frustrated by our conversation. We talked for a minute and I was able to express my feelings about him, about us. However, it still feels like he's holding out on me for some reason.

I sigh, when did things get this complicated? Ken-chan and I used to agree on pretty much everything. Now it seems as if we disagree, however minutely on a lot of things. Each one of us thinking that we are the one that is right.

He's right about one thing though; the only Kenshin his friends know is the one that is real to them. They don't know anything about him from when he lived here. Never seen him ordered around before, except maybe by his parents.

I smile slightly at the thought of Kenshin listening to his parent's orders. It seems amusing for some reason, since he's never had a family before, not a real one with parents and such.

But his friends, they have no clue that all I've ever had to do was ask and he would do it what I wanted.

But I too am right, we've changed both of us, and I want to know what he won't tell me. I won't order him around, I never have and don't want to do that, ever, but there is something that he won't tell me. In a more ways than I care to admit he's become more and more like the Kenshin I knew when I was four, remote and isolated. Not completely but he's regressing.

I just want to know the reason.

It's as if there is something missing from him that he had before and then lost. Perhaps he himself does not even realize it and so he cannot express what he doesn't know.

Kenshin's POV:

Several hours have passed since Setsuna-chan visited my room, on the computer screen is a record of child named Toriad, Ken. His height, weight, age, medical records...everything. Everything the U.S. government could find out about him. All compiled into a single file in the FBI/CIA data banks. As far as they're concerned he's a real person, or was...

Sorry, but Ken isn't usable anymore, no longer needed so discarded. For a moment I pause to think about it, everything I had built as him, it brings a feeling of nostalgia. Quickly I push the feeling aside and with a few swift keystrokes suddenly my former sister, Toriad, Maria, is an only child.

Now, even if the US government goes after my nee-chan and tomodachi, they won't be able to hold anything against them because I won't have existed so they'll be chasing a ghost. No legal precedent for a ghost hunt.

Sighing I check the clock, it's almost eleven in the morning here which would make it about seven at night where my friends are, there's a ten hour difference between Japan and the east coast of the United States of America. My friends should be home from whatever activities they have after school.

Maybe one of them is online.

"Hmm?"

I guess I was right; Maria is online, now why doesn't that surprise me?

As I stare at her screen name I remember my hime's comment about my friends in America. As if on a cue an idea for her to get to know them pops into my head, and also, a closing, to find that which I miss. A peace of heart for my contentment, to live and move forward with no regrets this time.

I send my sister an IM and sit back to await a response.

This is going to get interesting, fast.

Ariel's POV:

Life has been only slightly weird since Ken...actually I suppose I should call him Kenshin, left a week ago.

Slightly weird meaning everyone that is anyone in the US government heard about the little fight he had in school last week and wants to know what we, we being his friends, know about him. Apparently they are not so very thrilled that an assassin of his caliber slipped past them so undetected.

They also are not too pleased with the fact that none of us, as his friends knew, anything about his other self. At first they thought we were lying, I think. But they cannot prove it since, according to Shaun, lie detectors are not permitted in court.

He said something about them not being reliable or some whatever. Something to do with belief, for example, if someone who does and some one who does not believe in god were both asked if God existed and they answered true to their beliefs then they would both be telling the truth and besides, all the tests came up that we were telling the truth anyway.

I think they were pretty disappointed about that.

I let my mind wander as I stare at the sheets of music on my bed that I had been studying for Chorale.

_I sighed discontentedly, my life, along with the lives of my friends had been turned upside down since Ken left. The government bureaucracy, every single part of it, the FBI, the CIA, to the smallest local police wanted to know what we knew about Ken._

_Here I was sitting across the room from the real world equivalent of Mr. Bubble's from Lilo and Stitch, a man in a black suit with glasses on with absolutely no personality._

_Exactly how I had planned for my afternoon to go._

"_Look, Ms. Riggun. We need your help, within the past four or five years there have been more than a few reports of murders, people mysteriously disappearing, occurrences have been both national and international. Finally we, that is to say the US government, came to the conclusion that it was the same killer."_

"_What does this have to do with me or my friends?"_

"_The attack on the police officers the other day, it was the same M.O. We need to know what you know in order to do our jobs. So I repeat, who is Ken Toriad?"_

_I looked pleasantly across the room, "I already told you 'I do not know.' What more do you want from me?"_

"_The truth."_

_I took a breath to calm myself and when I answered my voice was calm and collected, "I told you the truth, I do not know anything._

"_Simply because you cannot accept the fact that you do not know anything will not persuade me to comply," I smiled, a sincere effort on my part to avoid conflict but I am just as happy knowing that it will irk him. "So, how much longer, do you suppose, until we can stop having these tedious conversations of ours?"_

"_Until you tell us the truth."_

"_We have been having these conversations for almost a week, actually, a week today, and I have not given any answer that you want because what you want is the truth. If you want an answer that makes you and your president happy, go follow the rabbit down the rabbit hole like in Alice and Wonderland, or take a sleeping pill and wish for happy dreams because you will not get any in the real world. Now may I leave?"_

_The man nodded his head in confirmation._

_I picked up my bag and walk determinedly out of the room. They do not know anything about Ken. He may have killed before, but that was before. If they knew the Ken that I know, that all of his friends know then they would not be so worried. He will not kill; I do not think he can bring himself to steal away such precious life anymore._

_When I got home I turned on the T.V. with the intention of watching Lilo and Stitch, I needed a movie to take my mind off my own troubles, but a newscast stopped my fingers in their tracks._

_The reporter was talking about the Crown Princess of Japan and how she had finally been engaged. This was big news since the current emperor of Japan has only two heirs and his second son's wife had shown no signs of bearing child, some people even think she may be barren._

_If the daughter had not gotten engaged then Japan may have been on the verge of civil war to decide the next emperor and nobody, even the US's idiot of a president, wants war in such a time of peace. _

_Actually, Ken told me about that once, any female that marries someone not of noble blood is no longer a member of the family. So then the fiancé has to be a noble._

_Here the announcer was speaking on this subject, The announcement was made earlier this day, that the daughter of the current heir to the thrown, Crown Prince Naruhito, has been engaged to someone that is not of Noble Blood._

_This stunning announcement was made just before the announcement of a possible, and apparently very probable, amendment to Japanese law to once again allow female emperors which would let them marry outside noble blood and retain their imperial family status... _(note: they are actually considering allowing women to be Emperors in Japan again so this is not entirely a fictional idea, although I'm not sure about the retaining their imperial status part although it does seem logical)

_What the heck!?! Now I am not even paying attention to the reporter. They just showed a picture of the Crown Princess and her fiancé, **it is Ken**! But they're calling him Kenshin. So that is why he left so quickly and without any goodbyes!_

_I guess it makes some sense but how would he even know the Crown Princess? Unless, his dream from last year, great... my eyes widened in surprised shock. I cannot believe it but it does make a weird kind of sense, and its sweet at the same time._

_Besides, they are going to amend the Imperial Household Law to allow female emperors? Not a novel idea but apparently the emperor wants to keep his daughter his own as she is his only child._

"Ariel!"

My moms' voice shakes me out of my reverie, "Yes mother?"

"There's someone on the phone for you!"

"Thanks!" I walk down the stairs to the kitchen where the phone is. I pick it up, "Hello?"

-Hey! Ariel?

"Yes?"

-It's Selena. Can you get online right now?

"Um, I think so. Why?"

-Kenshin's online, in our private chat room; you know the one we all created a while back?

"How could I forget?" I laugh at the memory.

-Yeah- I can hear her laugh as well. -At any rate he has something he wants to ask us. You know: me, you, Cristin, Shaun, and Maria.

"Okay."

-Every else is here already so come on.

"Gotcha, I'm coming."

Maria's POV:

Let's see, there's Sports11 a.k.a. Shaun, Darkrose Pluto a.k.a. Selena, Piccolo01 a.k.a. Cristin, and Kenshin as Kageno Hitokiri. With me being Journal04 the only one we're missing is Ariel.

What could be keeping her? Selena said she'd call. Oh wait!

Jasmine85 pops up on my buddy list. Ah, Ariel's just signed on. I begin to type in a greeting to her.

Journal04- Hey! What's up?

Jasmine85- Not much, I'm hereed to hear what Kenshin has to say or ask rather ;

Jasmine85- here. sorry about the spelling

Darkrose Pluto- Don't worry. Actually, that's a good point. What do u want to ask us Kenshin. I called Ariel so now we are all assembled

Sports11- Avenger's Assemble!

Piccolo01- huh?

Sports11- nevermind

Kageno Hitokiri- Actually, to be perfectly honest. Ths isn't my idea. It was my Hime's

Jasmine85- Where's Hei Hua?

Piccolo01- still with her family in China. Her dad was okay so they decided to visit family while they were in the area

Kageno Hitokiri- Ah, so I can't include her in my idea

Sports11- Hm? Idea?

Piccolo01- So, what's this idea?

Kageno Hitokiri- actually it is my idea based on a comment my hime made

Kageno Hitokiri- Setsuna-chan would like to know if any or all of you are interested in coming to Japan tomorrow

Journal04- tommorrow? Why so soon?

Kageno Hitokiri- To attend our wedding

For a moment all I can do is stare at the screen in shock, the six of us, visit Japan. For his wedding?! My brother's wedding!!!

When did he get engaged?! He's only been gone for a week and he got _engaged_! I can't believe it! He's never done anything so...well, rash I suppose. Not that I know. Everything he does is kind of calculated.

Even his friendships, it always seemed like he was judging people, not like most do, on their personality, but rather on whom he thought they really were. As if he saw beneath their exterior façade that they put on for others and could see who they really were, and what quality of a person they were.

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I stare at the screen Hei Hua sends a message.

Piccolo01- YOU WANT US TO WHAT!?!

Sports11- Japan? Wedding? What the hell!

Kageno Hitokiri- Come to Japan for our wedding. Onegai!! :)

He's serious, I can't believe it.

I bet he already knows how we'll respond, he knows people like that. Maybe it's the way he looks at people. Even me, his eyes always, even when he was happy and seemingly carefree, seemed to stare right through me. It gave me, still does actually, the willies.

Why am I back on this train of thought?

I glance back at the message he just sent everyone. Muttering to myself about the stupidity of brothers I begin to type in a response.

Cristin's POV:

I look at the clock on the computer, it's been almost an hour since Maria phoned me to tell me that Kenshin had first IM'ed her at around seven at night.

Wait a minute, wouldn't that be close to eleven a.m. in Tokyo?

I shake my head at his stupidity, he should be sleeping, I would be. I wonder how Maria's going to respond to this, after all, adopted or not she thinks of him as her little brother.

Wait... here comes a response from Maria.

Journal04- Are you serious little brother?

Kageno Hitokiri- Little brother?

Piccolo01- Let it pass Kenshin. I'm interested

Sports11- Me too

Darkrose Pluto- Japan huh? I'll go, you couldn't stop me

Jasmine85- if you guys go I'm going

Journal04- So then, I guess we're all going to take a little trip to Japan tomorrow

Kageno Hitokiri- Cool!

Kageno Hitokiri- What have I gotten myself into? ;

Darkrose Pluto- ::evil smirk::

I smile as I read Kenshin's response, because to tell you the truth, I have absolutely no clue, but this is going to be fun no matter what.

About him too, I never could figure him out. As a friend he's always been infallible but he always seemed to be keeping something. That something apparently was his history in Japan and now as the fiancé to the Crown Princess of Japan I'm not so sure how he'll play his cards.

Like now, I'll bet everything I own, he's sending these messages so we'll see the old him...not the one on the news. And he probably means what he's typing, but only in an abstract sense of the word, maybe he's slipping backing to who he was here. He's trying hard to regain our trust, and perhaps he does need to. As a friend I still believe in him, but now that he's in Japan, how long will his loyalty to the memories he's created in America last?

Kenshin's POV:

I sigh as I stare at the chat room screen, I already know what I'm getting myself into, and it will be fun, if not hectic, but there are one or two more people I have to invite, and they live in upper new England area, apart from where I live, quite a few hours away actually.

I went to camp with them.

They're not online since it's around 8:00 pm for them their probably at OWL's. But I could e-mail them, or send one of the Japanese ambassadors to find them. Let's see now...

Jessica's POV:

What the...is going on?

All I know is that Dave and I were at OWL's when we got a visit from the Japanese ambassador. He was very nervous and seemed to think we were friends of someone very important.

He spoke briefly with Scott and then spoke with us, wanted to know if we were interested in a trip to Japan.

Neither Dave or I was sure what he meant or who he thought we knew until he showed us the news clip from the earlier this evening when the announcement about the betrothal of the Crown Princess of Japan had been made.

When it was broadcast at six pm, we had been on our way to OWL's. Now, as we sat there and watched the tape of it and we could only stare at the screen in confusion. It was Ken...or as the newscaster was calling him, Kenshin.

At first it was like, are you sure that's him, and does he really know us. Its not that easy to recognize him all dressed up, especially when you don't think of someone as the person that they portray to you. Like when you watch a movie, you know that the bad guys aren't really bad in actuality but they portray themselves to you in a way that makes you think that they really are. It's like that, Kenshin's either putting an act on for us or them and I think it's probably been us he's been performing for.

So neither of us noticed it was actually him but then Dave noticed the small scar above his left eye that he got from rock climbing last year at camp. You wouldn't notice it unless you were looking for it.

We have until tomorrow morning at seven to pack; then we leave for Philadelphia so we get to miss school. We're supposed to meet up with some other people who are coming to Japan as well, friends of his from where Ken, no...Kenshin lived...or lives...lived...whatever.

The plane leaves at three from the Philadelphia Airport. We're going to spend two weeks in Japan. This is going to be, interesting might be a good word for it, maybe freaky even.

Selena's POV:

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

I bolt awake. Great, my alarm. Rubbing sleep out of my eyes I look blearily at the clock by my bed. Which button in the off switch?

BEEP! BEE...!

Never mind, I pull the alarm clock's plug out of the socket instead.

Today is going to be very interesting...to say the least. Now it's time to get ready for school.

Like I'm going to be there very long. As I think this I roll my eyes and take another look at the clock, which is now on the floor, without the time on it.

Slightly irritated I look at my watch...oh no! I'm gonna miss the bus! I have to hurry!

Twenty minutes later I'm getting off the bus, which I just barely made, at the school lobby. I look around for a minute and spot my friends in their normal spot.

"Hey!" I raise my hand in greeting.

"Hello," Cristin's greeting is soft, but still laced with a slight amount of excited tension.

I look around at my friends. Maria and Shaun stand off to the side taking quietly to each other. The same excitement that was in Cristin's voice can be seen in the way they're standing.

Come to think of it, they can probably see the same in me. I wouldn't be surprised at all. I can't recall the last time I was this nervous.

I let out a sigh to try and release it. No good, I'm too excited about going to Japan. Who wouldn't be? Especially if one of your friends was paying for it.

I look at Maria questioningly, "So we leave when?"

"We leave at 3 pm."

"Three?" Ah, Ariel has arrived, her hair falling lazily around her shoulders and dark circles under eyes.

Maria nods, taking a close look at her friend. "Couldn't sleep either, huh?"

Ariel shakes her head, "You know much sleep I got last night? About ten minutes, right before my alarm woke me up. I didn't even have that much to pack."

"Has it occurred to any of you that the government may not want us to leave?"

"Shaun? Do you have to be a cynic?"

"No, and I'm not. I'm being realistic. All of you know how badly the US Government was embarrassed when they found out that a Japanese assassin had slipped passed them with out them even hearing a whisper.

"They also know that we are his friends. I pretty sure my house and phone line have been tapped, so have yours most likely. They may not want us to leave in case they think they can get anything about him out of us. Our government isn't exactly known for acting on its founding principles." He gives each of us a pointed look. We all know it to be true.

Cristin's POV:

I stare at Shaun for a moment; he seems so flaky sometimes, so it's easy to forget that he actually has some intelligence, a lot of intelligence actually. His IQ is easily 140, approximately 40 points above normal, and that's only from what I've seen. He probably doesn't show more intelligence than he has to.

He's smart like that...as well as being a lazy bum...

As far as I know he was the first person Kenshin made friends with aside from me, more likely though Shaun made Kenshin his friend, not that other way around. Shaun can be subtle, as infrequent as that is, but he is also very persistent.

Like Kenshin, but then, Shaun has never really known where to draw the line, I'm pretty sure that Kenshin does, or at least I was. He's, as a friend he is infallible but as this new person? I don't know him anymore, if he really wants something he'll go for it and in the past he always considers the alternate possibilities of what might happen. But I don't know this new person that I see on the news.

Perhaps this is the reason for my going to Japan, to understand my friend again. To have my faith in whom he is restored on a deeper level, even as I forgive him for his deception.

Shaun's POV:

I can see my friend's slightly shocked expressions. They keep forgetting how intelligent I actually am. That's good. They have no need to know how smart I really am, or at least, how smart I think I am. There might be a "small" difference.

Okay, so the difference might be a bit larger, but hey, god needs a few limitations doesn't he?

Not many people know what I can do, Kenshin knows, and so does the government, well...they think they do. They have no idea...not really.

Like the fact that yesterday afternoon someone was busy hacking into the FBI/CIA database and deleting information on a certain Ken Toriad. As far as the government database is concerned now he's only a figment of their imagination.

Real in their minds but when they go to check their database they'll find that he doesn't exist officially, and never did. I'll bet anything it was Kenshin. Probably to cover for us, and himself, so the government can't hold us legally, and for personal reasons no doubt. He's good but he left a trail that you can trace, if you really want to.

It's not that I'm really all that good with computers, I'm not, my area is more long the lines of astrophysics and Chaos Theory, as well as occasionally dabbling in political repercussions of various abstract scenarios based on the current situations in the world, but I do know what to look for. Or rather I wanted to know what was going on and a friend at school, who's really good with computers, knows what to look for so I got a program from him.

It allows me to access certain restricted documents in a fashion. Actually what it does is analyze what the computer system is looking for to allow access and then tells me. From there it's up to me to figure out the exact code or whatever it wants.

Not that hard but only if, as I said before, you know what to look for.

I grin, "Don't worry, even if they really don't like the situation all that much they probably won't stop us, it's just a possibility. If they did try to stop us then they'd have to deal with Japan and I don't think our president really wants to."

"Oh," Maria shakes her head in mock disgust. "Politics suck don't they?"

I nod my head in agreement then smile brightly, "Don't worry, since I'm God you have nothing to fear!"

"_Shaun!_" Cristin groans in mock agony.

At least I think its mock agony. I hope its mock agony.

"By the way, why are we in school if we're leaving early anyway, at ten?"

"Because our parents made us so we wouldn't be counted as cutting school or something like that," Selena smirks.

"Oh...right..."

Dave's POV:

Finally, we're here.

I can't believe Kenshin and Maria drive eight hours each year to come to camp. If I had to it would drive me nuts, but then as long as camp is worth it and it would be for me, then I think I would do it.

"Hey! Dave! Stop day dreaming!" it's Jess.

"Huh?"

"We're here, at the airport," she says.

"Oh," I look around. "Philadelphia's a large city, not like Springfield at all."

Jess looks at me, "Tell me about it."

I glance in her direction, "I just did."

Jess shakes her head in disgust as she picks up her bags, "Hey, Dave? Don't you ever smile?"

I stare at her with a completely straight face, "I am smiling."

Jess looks around, "So where are we supposed to be headed again?"

I look at our tickets, "Gate 11 B. It's that way, I think."

"You think?" she stares at me.

"Hey, I've never been here before and that's what the sign says."

"Are we done arguing, boys?" Jessica's tone is slightly mocking.

I simply stare at her in confusion, "Boys...?"

She laughs, "Never mind, slip of the tongue, plus I always wanted to say that since I saw it in a movie. Anyway, this place is crazy; Springfield has nothing on this place. I mean the tallest building we have is maybe thirteen stories."

I nods my head in agreement, "Yeah, but it smells nicer where we're from. A lot nicer."

"That's true," Jessica laughs again.

"Can we go inside now?" I look at my watch. "We still have to get our luggage checked in and stuff."

"Sure, sure."

As we walk toward our gate I notice a few other people standing there. Five to be precise, one is a short blonde haired girl. Next to her are two other girls, one with curly brown hair and the other with straight brown hair. There is also a skinny boy talking to someone who looks familiar.

She should as she's been going to the same camp with us for about five years. I only met her brother last year but she's been in the same group as I quite a few times.

"Hey! MARIA!"

Maria's POV:

I hear my name called and turn around from the conversation I am having with Shaun.

"Hey!" it's Jessica and Dave from camp. "What are you guys doing here?"

They run over to where we're standing by the gate before responding.

Jess is the one that responds, "Believe it or not, we were at OWL's last night when this guy showed up,"

"Don't tell me, a Japanese man, formal attire?" Shaun looks critically at them. He's probably assessing the political situation; again, aside from science it seems to amuse him a fair amount.

"Yeah, apparently he's some sort of ambassador from Japan. He showed us the six o'clock news which we missed since we were at OWL's."

"OWL's?" Ariel's expression is confused one.

"Outdoor Wilderness Leaders," I explain. "It's kind of like a winter version of the camp Kenshin and I go to in the summer. Only a few are invited to go."

"Ah."

"We would have been invited but since it's from six to eight at night, every Wednesday, you get the idea."

"Yes I do."

I think the camp director once mentioned to his wife that he thought Kenshin would have made a great leader. Now we'll never know, at least not if he's any good as a councilor. But then, we'll see what he knows when he becomes emperor of Japan in the future.

I think he'll do really well. His ability to analyze every aspect of every situation will stand in him in good stead in such an occupation.

"Hey, does any one know what time it is?" Shaun asks.

"Nope."

"Uh uh."

Selena's POV:

"Wait, I have a watch," I glance down at my pikachu watch, "its quarter after two."

"Okay. So we have forty-five minutes to do what?" Shaun looks around irritably. He's not one to sit idly around for more than a few minutes at a time if he doesn't have to.

"Wait around or something, I guess," replied Cristin.

"Is that all?" Shaun is still restless.

I roll my eyes, "It's not exactly like we can play football in the airport you know."

"We can't?" Shaun feigns innocence.

"No." I reply flatly.

The two new kids are standing around idly, looking slightly unsure of what to do. It seems they are unsure of how to approach our little group.

"Actually, we know Maria but we don't know who you guys are, so why don't we spend the next three quarters of an hour swapping stores?"

...Or not...

"Heh, practical as ever Dave," Maria grins at her friend.

I glance around, "Can we get something to eat first, though?"

Ariel smiles, "You're always hungry, Selena."

"Can I help it there's no food in my house?"

"No, I guess not."

I look around some more, "Um, there's Pizza Hut over there, if you guys want."

The girl looks at her friend, "We came all the way from Massachusetts to have Pizza Hut?"

"Never mind, I'll go find something for myself, something cheap hopefully."

Ten minutes later I'm back with a slice of pizza, they're still just standing around feeling awkward.

I give a groan, "Okay, so who wants to start?"

Ariel sighs, "I'll start. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Ariel. Like from the Little Mermaid. Don't laugh. I've already heard all the jokes."

"I've known Kenshin for about two and a half years, since his freshman year in High School. Mostly I saw him in the morning before homeroom, when all of us got together to hang out.

"But the time I actually got to know him the best was last year, during his sophomore year and my junior year in high school. We had class in the same hallway so we walked from one class to another. There was one time I actually remember the best.

"He was telling me about a dream he had. It was about him being the best friend of the crown princess of China. She was being forced to marry someone she didn't love. She wanted to marry him because she at least liked him.

"There wasn't any love, only extreme affection for one another and I wondered about that but then he said, 'For now it's enough to care for each other, love can come later, if ever.'

"So in the dream he asked for time to consider what was being asked of him and in that time he and his best friend behaved as best friends, for possibly the last time. When he finally reentered the courtroom he had decided to marry her.

"So then he told me, as we were almost to our next classes, 'When I woke up I had this feeling absolute peace, and I have no clue why...' Now that I think about it his eyes had a rather distant look in them, as if he were recalling something, almost a nostalgic look."

"Weird!" This? Coming from Shaun of all people.

"Maybe but I think he knew where the dream came from but didn't want to dwell on it."

Sadly I stare at my empty pizza plate, then shrugging I toss it into the trash and settle down to listen to every ones stories and possibly share some of my own.

Personally, I think Kenshin would make a really good leader, at sometimes, at other's I think he'd be a scary leader. Too erratic to really be effective, but then we're all teens so... maybe he'll grow out of it?

Cristin's POV:

All to quickly the forty-five minutes are up and we're boarding a plane that will take us away from a world we have known all our lives into something entirely different. This is so cool!

"Hey," I look quickly around. "Shouldn't someone else be here?"

"What do you mean?" Shaun looks confused.

"Elizabeth, she was one of us wasn't she?"

"If by one of us you mean part of Kenshin's little circle of true friends?" Maria responds, "Then, yes."

"You mean the girl that moved to Florida?" surprisingly the question is from the boy from their summer camp, Dave.

"How do you know about her?" I want to know.

"Kenshin and Maria talked about her at camp. She was a strong willed person I take it?"

Selena smiles, "A very strong willed person. Emotionally fragile though, small things tend to set her off. I think because she had such a rough home life with a step-dad who seemingly didn't care about any of the children except his own."

"Yeah," Shaun looks inquiringly towards Kenshin's sister. "Why wouldn't Kenshin invite her?"

"That depends," Maria looks calm. "They have a tendency to take cruises around the US at random times so she may be on a cruise somewhere where it was more convenient to simply fly here to Japan from there."

"Well," I try and smile brightly, "We'll find out when we get there now won't we?"

"Yes," Maria has a distant look on her face, "we most certainly will."

I look at Maria's face and not for the first time I wonder what exactly she knows about her brother that she never chose to share with the rest of us. Not that it matters really, but I'm still having a hard time imagining him as anything other than the kid I knew in America, as my friend.

I have to; otherwise I can't be sure how to react to him, as a friend, or as a political figurehead. As a friend I can handle, but the other is a complete unknown. A person, who I don't trust, can't trust because they hid things that mattered from their friends.

Kenshin' POV:

Wow, what a time, my friends will be here in another day and then the real fun will begin. I wonder what they'll think of each other at the airport. That's why I set it up like that so they would have some time to get to know each other first. Speaking of friends there's one more friend I need to call.

I should try her cell first I guess since she's probably on a cruise or something. Smiling I call her cell and am only slightly surprised when I see where the call is headed.

She'll be asleep right now if I guess correctly, since I'm the only idiot who would be up at this hour anyway. The Philippines are only an hour ahead of us after all.

Elizabeth's POV:

From mah bed Ah hear mah cell phone ringing from inside mah bag. What the hell? It's almost four in the morning although mah friends don't know where exactly ah am so they could call me, literally at any time of the day.

Ah reach over ta turn the phone off, but then Ah happen ta glance at the caller i.d. It's from Japan, now who do Ah know that's from Japan? Oh yeah...Ken.

Ah smile sardonically before picking up, Ah don't really care what his name is, Ah'll call him what Ah want. Just 'cause he's the crown princess of Japan's fiancé doesn't mean anythin' to me.

"Hello?"

- Hi! Elizabeth? It's Kenshin

"Ken, what the hell are ya doin' callin' me at this hour, don't ya have a life?"

- No, but I'm working on it, besides my name isn't...

Ah cut him off, "Ah know, Ah know! Ah know what your real name is but Ah'm goin' ta call ya Ken if Ah want ta, okay?" Then Ah grin, "Ya should know that well enough."

Ah can hear the smile in his voice when he replies.

– That's true enough I suppose. You're still acting like a chibi yaro.

"What! Ya little, Ah'd get ya for that if ya weren't all the way in Japan."

-What would you say if I could take you up on your offer?

"Yer in Japan thou...oh!"

He laughs.

- Very smooth Elizabeth! I like it.

"Are ya serious?"

-Yes, the others are coming; they left at three p.m. yesterday and with their nineteen hour flight, since they have two layovers, one in LA and the other in Honolulu, each about an hour and a half, they should be getting here around ten their time, midnight mine, according to the ten hour time loss because of time zones. Wanna come too?

"Hell yeah!"

- Fine, since you're in the Philippines you should get here around eleven a.m. or something, if you leave as soon as the plane get there, assuming you cruise ship has a Helicopter landing platform.

I pause for a moment in thought, "...It does...actually... So when is this plane gettin' here?"

- It's actually a small jet and it should get there in, its three a.m. here so, about eight your time, the hour difference and all.

"Cool, Ah'll go tell mah mom, she shouldn't have any problems, since Ah'm already away from school right now and Ah do all my work anyway, even if Ah am failin' a few classes."

- Elizabeth!

Ah smirk at his mock groan. Whatever, school isn't that important and it's not like Ah'm failin' any essential classes. Besides, Ah try so what's the big deal?

"Bah now, Ah have to wake up my mom so Ah can get permission, send the plane anyway since Ah have a feeling she won't really believe me unless she sees it."

- Fine, that's cool.

Ah wait for the click of his phone before Ah hang up mine. This is goin' tah be so cool!

Dave's POV:

This is the end of my first day in Japan. Not that that alone says much, we went straight to the palace to get some sleep before we get see Kenshin, as he wasn't allowed to come and greet us, something to do with his status as the fiancé of the crown princess. Well, it is one o'clock here.

It is definitely going to take a day or so to get used to the futon here, not at all like our mattresses back in the US. They are comfortable though, not like sleeping on rocks under a tent at camp either.

As I lay in bed I realize that I'm not going to be sleeping any time soon for while its some time in the early morning here the east coast of America is nine hours behind so instead I think of a time that I really remember with Kenshin, my most memorable event at camp with him.

_It was almost two years ago and we were setting up rock climb at an intermediate rock face for the campers, who were supposed to get there in an hour or so._

"_Hey, guys! What about over here?" It was Jess. She was standing on top of the cliff ledge._

_The councilor, Brian, walked over and looked at the ledge, "Looks good. Who wants to climb up and give Jess the ropes?"_

"_I'll do it," Kenshin volunteered._

"_Okay, but be careful," Brian cautioned. "We haven't climbed this for a few years and the rock might be loose."_

"_Hai!" Kenshin winked and began his climb. Once he had started Brian went to go around the long way to get to the top and scope out some more faces from the top with Jess, so I was the only one that really saw what happened._

_When Kenshin was about half way up the face he lost his footing, it must have just slipped or something because he wasn't wearing real climbing shoes but it was incredible, what he did._

_In the split second from when he lost his footing to when he started to fall he pushed off the cliff with his other foot and preformed a seamless extended back flip, landing himself on the branch of a nearby tree. Then without so much as a change of expression he leapt from the tree branch to the top of the face, almost thirty feet!_

_The entire thing took less than five seconds and when he was done he looked over the edge and waved at me, almost as if he didn't care that I had seen him do something so completely out of the ordinary._

"_Hey! Are you okay?" I called up to him._

"_Yeah, why?"_

"_Well, you're bleeding, and it doesn't look pretty."_

"_Huh?" he moved hand to wipe his forehead and pulled it back to reveal blood on his hand. "Oh," He appeared mildly surprised._

"_Ken, you have problems," I told him._

"_Probably. I'll deal with it later."_

Except that in terms of the cut there wasn't a later, not really. The cut got infected with dirt while we were climbing and didn't heal properly so he was stuck with a rather unique scar above his left eye. That's how I spotted it so easily in the news at six, it's how I knew it was him instantly; I was there when he got it.

He's been kind of weird as long as I've known him but then it didn't matter. He always acted as if something wasn't quite right with his life. He hid it but it flashed across his eyes at circle fire at camp sometimes.

I suppose that what was wrong was his history here in Japan. Actually, I suppose that 'wrong' isn't even the correct term, maybe 'off' would be a better statement of the situation. He was always at war, his personalities, so I know what he's like in camp, but what's he like in Japan?

Kenshin's POV:

"Chikushoo!"

My curse echoes across the halls of the palace.

I know they're not adjusted to the time zone but my friends could at least try to get up in time to actually do something. It's already nine in the morning! Elizabeth will be here in another hour or so!

Maybe Maria's up, she always gets up early. Well, when she isn't up to late at least.

As I turn the corner to her room I hear a curse, in Filipino no less. I guess nee-chan awake. "Hey, Maria! What the hell is your problem?"

The door slides open and she sticks her head, "Kenshin? Hey!" She jumps onto me. Tackling me to the ground.

"Um? Can you...uh...get off me?"

"Oh, no problem," she gives me a penetrating look as she gets off me. "I guess you and your hime made up huh?"

"Um, kind of."

"Kind of?"

"Don't worry about it."

Maria frowns slightly at my lack of expression, "Kenshin, do you wanna go for a walk? I want to ask you something."

"Sure," I lead her down the path of a garden to a secluded spot that I favor. "So what did you want to ask?"

She takes a deep breath, "Will you train me to fight like you do?"

"You want to be trained in my ryu?!" I give her an incredulous look.

"That's what I said isn't it?"

"You know that I can't train you properly in only two weeks?" I respond in kind giving her a penetrating look of my own. It usually scares most people, but Maria knows me too well to be truly intimidated by it.

Maria nods her head, "Yes."

"So then you have to be willing to stay long enough to train. That would mean staying more than just a few years you know?" Considering the potential I think she has I think it probably won't take that long but I want to make sure.

"Okay."

"What would mom and dad say?"

"I'm not sure but I don't think they'd mind. You know how many times they complained that the house was better when we weren't there. That life was better before they had kids."

"Yeah, but then they also said that having you and adopting me were the best things they ever did. I think they think it was worth it but they might enjoy living without kids again."

I put on an innocent face and glance at my sister.

Maria returns the look, her head slightly tilted, an eyebrow raised and a smile playing across her face. "We were going to leave in another year anyway."

She seems committed enough. She'll be fine. "Fine, if you get their permission then fine. I'll train you."

"Thanks," she gives me a dry look, almost as if she knew what my answer would be before she asked me.

But my reason is not entirely that one she has understood, nor is she capable of truly understanding, simply because she has not had this experience of mine. I, who took many lives, was able to live as a teen, and lead a normal life, because of her. She worked past my defenses, to make me a more human person. Perhaps, in this I might yet settle one more thing of my somewhat disjointed past, and repay my debt to her.

Maria's POV:

"Umph!" I hit the mats hard and roll back to my feet breathing heavily.

We've only been at it for an hour, less even, but already my body hurts more than it's ever hurt before. A groan of pain escapes my lips.

"You asked to be trained." Kenshin is relentless.

"I know but I didn't think,"

"Didn't think what, that it would be this tough? Look, nee-chan, I haven't agreed to train anyone, ever. Anyone of the people that is trained to be hitokiri would kill for this opportunity. I kid you not. There is only one successor to this school."

"So why bother to teach me?"

"Because I think you have what it takes..."

"What else?" I can see he has something else on his mind.

"Because I don't think you'll pass it on to others. It's to dangerous, few people have what it takes to master it, and even if they do, fewer still can be trusted not to abuse it."

"Um..." what am I supposed to say to that? Not many people tell you that they're teaching you something so that you won't pass on what you learn. "Why are you teaching me then if you don't want me to pass on the school's techniques?"

"You live outside Japan and thus our government's jurisdiction which means they can't force you to do anything. Plus, I have to by law, it's an unwritten law of the schools but why do you think so many strong ryu have disappeared? Because the times have no need for them.

"Many of the ryu from the past could have crushed any opposition that the west brought to our way of life but to do so would have meant the westerners would have sought out those schools to try and learn.

"We couldn't permit that, no matter what the cost. My technique is one of the only ones of its kind left. That is why; things of the past should stay in the past."

I nod my head; it all makes sense, but why me. Why not someone else?

"Because I trust you to let it die out with dignity."

I shoot him a startled look. I hadn't realized that I had spoken out loud. He just smiles.

"And besides, I owe you."

"Huh?"

"Its nothing, I simply know you will use it when it is needed. Now let's try it again, and don't complain."

I smile slightly, he saw right through me. Calculating, as always, it appears even his acceptance of my request to be taught has a reason to it.

"Besides, this is how the school has always been taught, even when swords were our main vehicle for dispensing the Mitsurugi Ryu's justice. The point of teaching you in this manner is the same as total immersion when teaching a language. I can't show you the separate moves; it wouldn't work as well. Only by seeing and experiencing it all together and first hand can you truly understand. When you understand you can start to retaliate in kind, with in the principles of the schools teachings."

I grin through a split lip; I understand the idea. I watch and take his attacks till I learn and then fight back. I don't even think he's going at even a fraction of his full speed and he's hitting me with ease. I have to work on my evasion skills. A lot.

"Actually," he looks slightly abashed. "We should shower and get dressed in normal clothes. I need to tell everyone something, as soon as Elizabeth gets here, which'll be in, like," my younger brother glances at his watch, "oh, say, fifteen to twenty minutes give or take."

He says it so casually I almost miss it because of the throbbing of my wounds. Then it registers; Elizabeth is coming? YES!

Elizabeth's POV:

This is so weird, everyone acts like Ah'm someone ta be afraid of. Ah'm not, but Ah do know Ken, and Ah got an e-mail from mah friends up north last week. They told me what happened.

Ah had no idea that Ken could do that kinda stuff, and apparently neither did they.

Slowly Ah step off of the plane, where the hell am Ah? I didn't see our approach to Japan; too busy drawin' I guess. It seems like Ah'm in a castle of sorts, so where is everyone? Ah walk around a bit never strayin' far from the plane.

"Hello. Been a while hasn't it?"

Ah spin around in an instant, "Ken?!"

"I'm hurt, you only say hi to Kenshin?"

"Maria, Selena, Shaun, Ariel, Ah recognize you guys but who are these other people? An what the hell happened tah yer face?" Ah finally notice mah friend has quite a few bandages on her face.

Maria laughs as she gently touches her bandages, "This? I'll explain latter, promise. As for your question, this is Cristin, she was a friend from before you but she really only joined 'the group' after you left, and certainly she has heard about you, and they," she waves to two people standing off to the side, "are friends of Kenshin and mine from camp. The ones we told you about up in upper New England?"

"Yah, Ah know. Ya'll only talked about them, like, every other day. Which ones did ya'll invite?"

"Let's see, actually, I think it would be better is...hey! You guys want to introduce yourselves?"

"Sure," a kid with a buzz cut and blue eyes steps forward, "I'm Dave. The short girl with blonde/brown hair is Jessica,"

"Call me Jess, everyone else does."

"Okay, let's see." Ah look at the two for moment to familiarize mah self with their faces, "Jess," has light green/blue eyes, "and you're Dave. Ah think Ah have it."

"Well that's good," Shaun interjects, "they _are_ the only boy and girl here you don't know yet."

Ah give him a dark look.

"So what should we do?" Kenshin asks, ignoring Shaun's idiocy as usual.

"Ah don't know about ya'll but Ah want to see Japan," Ah grin at mah friends and they grin back.

"That sounds great!"

"So," Selena turns to Ken, a familiar gleam in her eyes, "Where should we go to find the nearest anime store?"

"What? No historical sights?"

"Maybe later," Selena grins, "but right now we want to hang out with a friend we haven't seen in a while and thought we'd never see again."

"How?"

"The same way we always do!"

Laughing Kenshin points the way ta the exit of the palace, we are definitely going ta have a lot of fun. Japan won't know what hit it!

Selena's POV:

So this is Tokyo...impressive. Three days ago I didn't see very much of it because we went straight to the palace without stopping. And then the next day we went to some of the historical sights so I didn't get to see much of it then. I never thought it would be this crazy, it's like visiting New York. I still can't understand anyone, but at least here I have an excuse.

Let's see, I've spent most of the money I brought with me, even if it is 125 yen to an American dollar. I've spent over three hundred dollars on anime, and related topics.

What I really want to know is how Kenshin and Setsuna are able to be hanging out with us and not be recognized, even though he was on practically every T.V. in the world a week ago.

I make a face. This is entirely too complicated.

"Confused?" Kenshin gives me an intrigued look.

"Yeah, and a bit hurt you didn't ell me about this. I always thought we could talk about anything to each other."

"And we did, anything that involved our lives as people in the US. I was trying to escape my life here, and so that involved not talking about it. Otherwise you would have brought it up again and again and I wouldn't have been able to forget then."

I wince in spite of myself, "Good point, hey...! You said something intelligent!" I smirk at him. "Actually, I was wondering how you could be with us when everyone knows what you look like."

Setsuna winks at me, "They don't. They know what the Crown Princess and her kon'yakusha look like, not Setsuna and Kenshin."

"But," I protest, "You're the same people." This doesn't make any sense. People are who they are, you can't change that. Even as the him here in Japan, Kenshin is still Kenshin. I can sense that he's essentially still the same person I knew.

"Ah," Setsuna raises a finger in contradiction, "you know that and I know that but they don't."

"Ah don't get it," Elizabeth looks perplexed. "Ya'll look the same ta me."

"But that's because you know us too well. To them the princess and her kon'yakusha are people who wear ornate, expensive clothing, go to political functions, and never leave the palace without a company of bodyguards. Not a couple of kids hanging out with their friends."

"Ha!" Shaun smiles in appreciation, "Interesting, most definitely interesting. I'll bet that was your intent."

"Well, it was Ken-chan's idea but he insisted I do it, especially when we were younger so we would have this opportunity when we were older, like now."

Hah, that's a side of Kenshin I haven't seen before but it does fit in his personality. He always has had that side of him, whether he's aware of it or not, and I think not, that was prepared for almost anything. He always had a back up plan. Maybe that's why...there's something off? I can't be sure but every time we speak, it seems he is pleading for something. From us, his friends? Closure... I can't be sure, but I know him well. There is something about him.

At any rate I'll make a point of talking with him.

Now, where's the next anime stop?

Kenshin's POV:

Wow! I can't believe how much energy these friends of mine have. After that first night it's like they don't even sleep anymore. Well, they do but only for maybe four or five hours a night tops. They just want to hang out and travel around Japan.

In less than two weeks we've been through Kyoto, Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. All places they had interest in as well as a few local shrines around the areas.

In the past few days my best friend, Selena, and I have been more open to each other than ever before, possibly because she sensed I was hiding something before. I don't know, but it's still a relief to talk to openly with somebody.

At the same time she has given me a better perspective on my friends, particularly in some things I would not have noticed, or ignored.

"Hey, Kenshin?" 

_I turned my head and noticed Selena standing in the doorway, "Hm?"_

"_We need to talk," her eyes speak nothing of foolish games or idle chitchat. She's serious so I suppose this will be yet another no hold barred, best friends talk. We seem to be having quite a few of those lately._

_Idly I wondered what the topic would be._

"_So what shall we discuss today?" I sat down on a cushion by my bed._

"_Friends."_

"_Friends?"_

"_And friendships."_

"_What about them?"_

"_To be honest, not everyone here is still comfortable around you," she gave me a look. I knew of whom she spoke._

"_I know," I lowered my head slightly._

"_Look, as a friend, no one doubts you or your intent. However there are those like Cristin and Jess who," she paused, searching for the right words, "They're not sure how to approach you as Setsuna's fiancé. _

"_They believe in you as a friend, but as this new person they can't be sure that they can trust you."_

"_I know," I can see it in their eyes. Their faith in me as a friend is unwavering but..._

_Selena smiled slightly, "They still believe in the Ken they knew in America, they simply aren't sure whose side you'll choose if push comes to shove, and they'd like to know."_

"_I can't, tell them I mean, because I'm not sure whose side I'll be on either. I need more time. If they need me as a friend I will always be there but..."_

_Selena smiled once again, "I understand, as a friend is all you can be right now. If things stay on their current course we probably won't ever speak to you again after we leave."_

_I nodded, "Not that I won't want to,"_

"_but it just won't be possible with the politics of the situation." She got up to leave, "I already told you, I understand, don't feel a need to defend your actions and don't make me say it again._

"_Is this acceptable?"_

"_Yes," it feels good to have my best friend from the US understand. If she does, than no one else needs to, and my answer may be closer._

"_Your answer, the one you seek when you look in the eyes of your friends, in their faces. Have you found it?"_

"_What?"_

"_I told you, I pay attention, I can see you searching for something every time you speak to us. Have you found what you seek?"_

"_Not yet...almost though."_

"_If you seek forgiveness, it's foolish, there's no need."_

"_Not forgiveness, closure."_

"_Yeah," she nods, "Soon, it will all be over. But remember this, I will always be you friend, even if I never see you again. That's why I'm your best friend, I understand you even if the rest don't. Plus they're your true friends too. They won't abandon you. Understand?"_

_I smiled in return, as I too got up to leave, "Yeah."_

I'm glad Selena and I are back on good terms again; not being able to talk with my best friend was painful. She is my willing pair of eyes and ears in my group of friends. So I can understand how they feel about the situation now.

My friend's feelings, I believe them to be an important part of my closure that I must find so that I regret nothing.

The uncertainty and resentment is expected but it is good to know they still feel I am a friend. As long as that doesn't change then things are fine. Nobody knows or understands everything about his or her friends, and nobody really wants to most likely. That's not where the friendship comes from now is it?

Where is everyone at the moment anyway?

They went to bed around five this morning so Maria should be getting here any time now since it's almost ten thirty. It's nice to know that my generation has such dedication in it.

Maria's POV:

I glance at the practice hall, I've been coming here in the mornings for slightly more than a week, almost ten days, Kenshin's wedding is two days from now so we've spent the day hanging out, visiting the sights and of course, going to local anime shops.

Now, as I have every morning I wait for Kenshin to make the first move to begin our training session.

Watch the chest; that is where all moves originate from, not the eyes or the feet, those can miss-lead the viewer, but the chest.

There! 

Side strike with the left hand! Don't move; it's not a serious strike.

Sure enough Kenshin's hand stops millimeters from my neck. He nods, "Not bad, last week you would have tried to dodge, even if you had known it was a fake attack. Your self control has gotten better." He resumes his stance, "The next one will be for real."

I nod my understanding. Here it comes!

High kick! Duck under it!

Left-handed fist strike! Lean back to dodge, catch with right hand, pull in and kick!

Kick blocked by leg! Hook around back of leg and pull in!

Strike with left elbow! Miss!

Where? Whoa! I start falling; I didn't even see Kenshin try anything.

Oh no... It wasn't him; I anticipated and over rotated. I'm falling backwards.

"Hyah!" I take control of my backward momentum and place my hand on the floor kicking Kenshin in the jaw as I bring my feet over my head.

I glance at him, he has blood dribbling down the side of his mouth but he doesn't seem to notice it.

"Nice move, you've improve a lot in the past week and a half. Don't get cocky though, you'd still get yourself killed in a no holds barred fight with most people. I saw it coming but you've gotten faster. I didn't think I needed to speed up. Maybe I should have you work with Setsuna to become faster. I'm fast, faster than I used to be but still not the same as Setsuna-chan."

"Setsuna is faster than you?" I'm surprised.

"Yep," Kenshin sits down on the floor. "...Well, sorta. I'm more skilled and stronger but she's faster, relatively, despite my shukuchi, over longer periods of time, this makes a fight between us almost even. Let's call it endurance?"

"Almost?"

He smiles, one of his rare smiles now a-days, "Actually, not even almost, most fights normally don't last long enough for it to be a factor in them. I'm still much better in overall skill and technique. Anyways, since her speed comes from her training techniques and not natural skill she should be of some help to you."

I stick my tongue out at him, "Let's go find the other and watch a movie, or something."

"Fine, but you need a shower."

Touché.

Shaun's POV:

Tomorrow is the wedding!

I can't possibly concentrate on what I'm doing. Sighing in resignation, I look up from my book, _The Universe in a Nutshell_ by Stephen Hawking. I remember when Kenshin gave me the book; well actually he showed it to me because he needed someone to help him understand it.

When we were done he still didn't understand it very well but he did enough so that he could follow what I was saying in a general sort of way. That's all he really wanted in the first place, an ability to understand what I'm so passionate about.

I've noticed that about him, he never seems to put any effort into his schoolwork so he gets a couple A's mostly B's and a few C's. But when something is important to one of his friends then, then he'll really make an effort to understand.

Come to think of it, where is Kenshin? and everyone else for that matter? I hear noise in another room so I move to investigate.

I walk into the lounge room that Setsuna prepared for us. It's dark and there's a movie on, "What are you guys watching?"

"Endless Waltz," Selena's reply is short.

I watch the screen for a while. All I can see are a bunch of giant mecha flying around in space shooting at each other. As I continue to watch the fighting moves to earth. I shake my head in disgust.

I never could understand my friends interest in anime, "That's not possible."

Selena looks at me, "What's not?"

"The beam weapons and propulsion powerful enough to be that maneuverable in space. It's just not physically possible for things that size. Especially if they have that much weaponry, and in the pull of the earth gravity."

"So? It's like saying that it isn't possible to generate flame with your right hand like in _Recca no Hono_. It's fiction so it can't happen but its fun to watch."

Kenshin gives his best friend a strange look, "You mean you can't generate flame with your right arm? Dude, you got gypped in the super power department."

Uh oh, here it comes. Selena reaches for the wooden sword next to her couch she's on. "Excuse me?"

"Never mind."

Setsuna laughs. Apparently she finds this all amusing. I guess it is amusing, if you like this sort of thing. I don't really, but it is fun to hang out with my friends. I mean how often are you invited to Japan to hang out with royalty? Not often and I may never get the chance to do so again for a long time so I'll make the best of it, not that god needs to but still...

Setsuna's POV:

So, this is what was missing, Kenshin's friends. When Kenshin first came back he seemed much the same Kenshin as when he first left. But then as the days passed something about him seemed different.

It seemed to me as though Kenshin had something missing, the same way he was when I first met him when I was five.

Kenshin was crying because he was hurt and he thought no one seemed to care. I had seen him around with seemingly no one to talk to, so I opted to be his friend, or at least try.

Kenshin isn't like other people, not really. Other people make friends and then forget about them when they aren't in their lives any longer but since he had no friends at an early so he learned to judge people based on who they really are and thus the friendships he forms will last indefinitely longer than other people's friendships.

He's still not the same as the kid I knew when he left but both of us have changed. Still it's not like before, it's as if something has been added to him, not subtracted or taken away. Something that wasn't there before.

He may have become what my oji-san saw in him when we took him in. He may truly be the best emperor that Japan can possibly have for the times ahead, but is it that what he is actually looking for? I don't believe this to be the case. He is still searching for something, something he can find in his friends.

I believe he needs something from them, to assuage his fragile psyche where he can betray those he cares about with the same cold heartedness as he killed with. I know how gentle he truly is. And I also realize how easily he hurts himself and for him, betrayal of friends is the highest crime and he will punish himself eternally for it. Hold doubts within his heart, and hold himself back.

So from his friends, what does he wish to find in them?

"Hey, Setsuna?" I look for the voice, its Dave-kun.

"Hai?" I respond.

Dave's POV:

Suddenly unsure I wet my lips nervously, and I know that it shows, "Can I ask you something in private? It's important, to me at least."

"Okay," she gets out of her seat and motions for me to follow her.

I follow her as we make our way through the maze known as the imperial palace of Japan. Eventually our little walk takes us to a secluded garden where Setsuna sits beneath a tree and waits fro me to begin.

I lick my lips that suddenly seem dry and unable to speak. This has been on my mind ever since I asked that question of Maria at the airport, and the story of my experience with Kenshin that I told.

_How good is Kenshin? This is the question on my mind along with who he is. At camp he was never very extraordinary, not openly at least._

_I looked at Maria, my question burning inside of me, or so it feels. I need to know and she may be able to answer this question of mine, "How good is Kenshin?"_

_She managed an amused look as she pondered my question, "In terms of physical abilities, his ninja and swords skills, or his loyalty to his friends?"_

"_Any one of them will do," I looked at her intently._

"_You're in luck, the answers the same for all of them, Sei'ei."_

_I guess I looked as confused as I felt because she smiled slightly._

"_Sei'ei? What's that?"_

"_You'll figure it out eventually."_

"_What?"_

"_Don't worry about it."_

"_I'm not worried about it but I've seen Kenshin do pretty amazing things at camp when he thought other weren't looking, or rather didn't care that they were."_

_The rest of the group looked intrigued. _

"_Like what?" Cristin wanted to know._

_I glanced around, "Look, only staff at camp knows what happened at staff training last year, you know, the one you decided not to go to since you had other plans?"_

"_Yeah."_

"_There was this huge tree in the parking lot; you know the one I'm talking about right?"_

"_The one that's like 90 ft tall and almost a yard across at its base?"_

"_Yeah, that's the one. At any rate, it was gone by the time you go to camp right?"_

_Maria nodded, "You guys told me that you cut it done with no problems."_

_I gave her a wry smile, "Almost. When Scott was cutting it down with the chainsaw it didn't fall the way it was expected to and because of all the branches Scott almost got trapped under the tree and seriously hurt."_

"_Almost?" Shaun questions._

"_Yeah, almost. When it fell in the wrong direction everyone backed up, except Scott could get away in time, he had to run up hill to get away but it was falling to fast. _

"_Then, like it's nothing Kenshin jumps from where he's standing behind he rest of the staff and does this weird kind of twist kick in mid air. He hit twice that I could see, one in quick succession after the other._

"_Guys, he knocked away more than a ton of wood like it was nothing! That's no easy feat. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I would have told you it was impossible!"_

_Maria nodded her head in understanding. "I know what you mean, I once saw him get to school faster than the bus when our stop is the last one, and I know mom and dad didn't drive him."_

I look over at where Setsuna is sitting. At the airport I came to the conclusion that Kenshin was elite but that doesn't answer the question of who he is. This is what I need to know from one who knows him best.

"Who is Kenshin?" I blurt out my question, so as not to agonize over it too much longer. "I know him as someone from camp, a bit mysterious but still good and I count him as a friend but I don't know him from Japan, who is he? What makes him so special that as a commoner he can marry you, Japan's crown princess? And don't tell me its love because politics doesn't involve love."

"Ah so this is what you needed to ask me, I suspected something of this like but I couldn't be sure," Setsuna smiles. "I can't really answer that question for you. You see, for me he is someone different."

Setsuna's POV:

"He is someone who has been a servant of my family since I was only four and therefore almost every memory I have has him in it to a certain extent. He is someone who I cherish as I friend but even more so as a confidant and a loved one."

Dave gives a wry smile when I mentioned Kenshin as a loved one.

"Allow me to explain something, when I first met Kenshin, I mean really truly met him, it had been almost a year since he had come to live in the palace. I was five and he was six.

"He was crying because he thought no one cared about him. He was wrong of course, my family, or my uncle at least, cared about him as one of our own otherwise we wouldn't have bothered to take so much effort with him, but that's the way it seemed to him because that was the period of his training when he was being taught to deal with pain.

"I thought in the beginning that I made friends with him simply because he needed a friend and because I would need to know him as he was to be my personal guard. However, as I got older I realized that I had become friends with him for an entirely different reason, he had needed a friend and so had I."

Dave nods, as if he understands the concept.

"Besides, something in him has changed, for the better, Ojii-san knows this, and so do my Otoo-san and Oji-san. When he left, around anyone other than myself, he was as heartless in his tasks as anyone you will ever meet. Nothing mattered to him except his own values and the orders of the imperial family. Nothing stopped him from completing his assignments, and I mean nothing."

"Except for you," Dave interrupts me. "I'm sorry Setsuna...-san, but I've seen the way he looks at you. I now how he feels even if he doesn't, that's what being a good friend is, and I know for certain that he would have listened to you had you told him to stop something but you never did so it doesn't matter."

I smile, Dave is most likely correct but I never had reason to try and stop my best friend. I nod my acceptance of his words before I continue, "Then, when he was twelve, he left for America. He ran away because of a promise he felt he couldn't keep for personal reasons and he couldn't live with that. It very nearly drove him mad because other than his duty he had, or so he felt, nothing else to live for.

"So he ran but while he was running he found something, something that made him change. And back here he seems to feel the need to, atone for something. Not his original flight from duty, he has come to terms with that simply by being here and committing himself to my wish to marry. No, what he needs is not atonement, perhaps forgiveness, but truly what it is that he seeks, I cannot tell you. I do not know, but I believe he has yet to find his answer in this. I do know that it is you who can help him find it, as you did before. Your being his friends tipped the balance for him and for that I thank you all."

Kenshin's POV:

Great, the wedding is the day after tomorrow. And here I am sitting in my room like a little kid sulking, wait, not sulking, reviewing my situation. There we go, reviewing the situation it is.

Considering my attitude towards it sulking may be the correct word but it sounds so...so childish.

But I think, I think I have my answer to the question of closure. For one such as myself, who killed without hesitation, I felt I had no right to have such close friends and relationships with people. Even my hime, I kept a distance from her, but my friends, I have found my reasoning in my friends.

Their emotions, and friendship towards me, are pure and unblemished. They're faith in me, the reason they ignore my defenses years ago, and became my friends. They believe in me, and with that strength of their conviction in me as a person and friend, my answer lay. They showed me the answer. As long as even one of them can smile at me and truly call me their friend, I can stand up and find the strength to do what needs to be done.

Even become emperor of an entire nation...

This is the closure I seek, to know that I need not ask forgiveness from them. That they are still my friends no matter what, no matter time, no matter distance, is the needed variable in my equation. Even if we never meet again, their faith in me will remain. I have my answer, my closure, and I am glad for it.

"Nani?" the door to my room opens without even a knock. It's Setsuna-chan. "Oh, konbanwa."

"Hi Kenshin."

Not good, she's using my full first name, she wants to talk, and seriously too.

"What's up?"

"I just wanted to hang out with you for a while tonight, without your friends around."

"Oh."

For a few minutes we sit silently across from each other, then when I can't stand it any longer I ask her something that's been on my mind for a while.

"Why am I marrying you?"

"Besides the fact that I...love...you and that my ojii-chan agreed?"

"Yes, you know what I mean," I give her a direct look.

"Yes, I do."

"Then why? I was supposed to be your bodyguard but when you chose me to marry my entire reason for living was completely reworked in a matter of moments. What I don't get is why your father and grandfather are letting me; they let you choose me, why?"

"Because they know what I and your friends at least sense about you even if we don't know what it is exactly."

"Which is what?"

"You changed when you went to America; I already discussed this with the others. Before you were brutal in your efficiency, cold and seemingly uncaring. The only time I ever saw you display anything remotely resembling emotion, besides when we hung out as friends every now and then, is when you smiled, and that wasn't even how you really felt half the time.

"You cared about no one and nothing,"

"Except for you," I interrupt smiling gently, "I always cared about you, even when I left."

"Be that as it may," she returns my smile, "you listened only to yourself unless a member of my family told you to do something. It unnerved all of us, even I as your best friend found it strange."

"But you wanted to know what makes you special?"

"Oji-san!"

"Akishino-san!"

"You guys must be slipping; you didn't even hear me enter the room."

"It's her," I glance at Setsuna, "For some reason she lowers my defenses without even trying or telling me to, that makes me feel weird but it's a good weird."

"It's called love."

"Huh?"

Akishino ignores my question, and gets straight to his, "What you sought, have you found it?"

"Yeah, my need for closure and redeeming myself in my friends eyes...it seems it was unnecessary this entire time, in my friends." I sigh, "So, this is true friendship, where closure is made irrelevant, it's nice, isn't it? Ooji-sama?"

Akishino gazes solemnly at me, eyes unblinking, "Yes. I am glad for you. You'll make a good emperor."

"Yeah, me become emperor, who'd have thought?"

"Me. At any rate, the reason you were allowed to marry my mei? It's simple, sort of. You posses a power very few people do, and you use it with a gentle strength you have inherent within you."

"...!" I don't understand what he's saying.

"It's rather simple, so listen, as I know you have informed your sister, Maria, there were once many different fighting styles. Each, in and of itself, much more powerful than any that exist today. There was the style of the Oniwabanshu Okashira: the Kaiten Kenbu and the stabbing Hirazuki of the Shinsen Gumi; there was the Watou-jutsu which was destroyed by your predecessor and that of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu, also extinct. These all existed along with your school, the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, in a kind of balance. Today, with so many schools wiped out the balance is lost.

"The current government controls the last of the great arts, the three strongest sword styles with the three of you, Aoshi, Saito and yourself Kenshin, but it also know this. Among the three there is one which has not faded to a mere shadow of its former strength and has even adapted and grown stronger through the incorporation of other ideals. That is your Mitsurugi Ryu. You are perhaps the only person who posses such a technique who might still be able to survive if placed in the Bakumatsu today.

"Simply put, they wish to control that strength, just as they did years ago in the dawn of the Meiji era with the legendary Hitokiri Battousai."

"Uh huh," I give him a meaningful stare. That can't all there is too it, politics are like that, but Setsuna-chan's father isn't. Not completely anyways.

"Well...that and the fact that my esteemed elder brother, he absolutely dots on his only child."

"Anything to keep her happy, huh?" I shoot an amused glance at Setsuna-chan.

My Ooji-sama laughed, "Exactly, so at this point, because we can, we're creating a phantom profile for you. Congratulations, as of five minutes ago, you're now a member of a high ranking family of lords."

Setsuna smirked slightly, "Welcome to the family."

Terms used:

Chibi yaro- little bastard

Chikushoo- damn it!

Hai- yes/okay

Hitokiri- assassin

Konbanwa- good evening

Kon'yakusha- fiancé (guy)/fiancée (girl)

Mei- niece

Nani- what

Naze ka- why?

Nee-chan- sister (affectionate form)

Oji-chan- uncle (affectionate)

Ojii-chan- grandfather (affectionate)

Onegai- please

Otoo-chan- father (affectionate)

Ryu- technique

Sei'ei- Elite

Tomodachi- friends


	3. A Family in All but Blood ch 3

AN- first- is the second repost of this story. I really happen to like it and am a sucker for reviews. Even flames are welcome, as long as they are constructive.

second- the Japanese in this is not perfect, but based, rather on my limited understanding of it. please be forgiving if I used some words and phrases incorrectly.

third- this is an edited edition where in I tried to be more consistent in my use of tenses when writing.

fourth- assume any conversation between the narrator and someone Japanese is in Japanese cause fanfiction won't allow those little side things like asterisks and the carrots and stuff. again, thanks for the understanding

fifth- sorry this took longer even if it is shorter. I got caught up in college stuff, and yes this is the third and final chapter. It seemed like a good place to leave off...

A Family in All But Blood Ch. 3

Wedding days...they're happy times when you marry the person that you love. At least that's what they're supposed to be. I mean I guess I'm happy; after all I am marrying someone I care deeply about. It's just that...well...I would have preferred to wait a few years.

The reason? Simple, I'm what, sixteen, almost seventeen? Wonderful... Please note the sarcasm, how can you miss it? It's practically dripping off my voice.

My friends have all been supportive but they aren't the ones getting married. That's my...well...not problem, but still...

Lets see...two weeks ago the a life I'd built for myself, by myself with no help in the United States crumbled around me in a matter of moments as I was helpless to stop it because of a simple fact. I already had a life and duty to fulfill and it wasn't in the US. It was in Japan. Not a nice or remotely pretty situation, but that's the reason behind the wedding, or at least that's what I thought.

There's more involved, something the current members of the family, and imperial cabinet, see inside me, something that gives them hope for the future. I'm hoping they're talking about more than my Mitsurugi Ryu, as my soon to be uncle so kindly put it.

On a completely, not random but unrelated topic, I hate suits; did I mention that?

Sighing I turn around to look at my reflection in the mirror.

"You look fine," Selena grins at me.

"Really?" I shoot a worried look at my best friend from the States.

"Yes, really, this has to be the first time I have _ever_ seen you look even remotely worried, about anything, _at all_. Must be really important."

I try and smirk at her, it comes out as more of a pained grimace, "Yeah, I think getting married is only slightly serious, I'm really only there for the show, and the food."

"Oh come on. This is supposed to be the happiest day of your life."

"Really?" I glance skeptically at her.

"It might help if you kept telling yourself that."

"Gee, thanks..."

"No problem," Selena grins again.

"Can I be alone right now? I need to think things over."

"No problem, I understand." She hops lightly to her feet and leaves my room.

As she leaves the room I sigh and sit down heavily on the chair behind me. I can't believe I'm going to get married, to my oldest, and truest friend.

I never thought this would happen, not in my wildest daydreams, and yet when I look in her direction I feel something, seemingly nothing more than I have in the past...and yet...I don't know. It's like, when I look at her, I just...I don't know...I can't imagine my life without her again...is Akishino-san correct? Am I truly in love? Or am I merely trying to perceive a difference that does not truly exist?

It's not like anything I have ever felt before, ever. I don't know if it is love or just a renewed faith, a deep and unwavering affection and loyalty towards my truest friend.

If it is love, does love hurt this much all the time? Like a constant ache when you're not near the person you love, or is it different for each person?

There was this guy in America, at some assembly at Pine Groves High; he said that true love isn't when you can't stand not to be with a person, that it was more of a mutual understanding and respect and affection.

The entire time I sat through the assembly I couldn't help but think about what a load of bullshit it was. I couldn't believe how arrogant he was in presuming to tell us what true love was and is.

I didn't agree with him then and I still don't. No one can know what another feels or how true the feeling is. Even for myself, all I can truly tell is that I am about to marry my best friend, and become crown prince of Japan.

Wonderful.

At least the ceremony will be short...sorta.

We're having a "traditional" Shinto wedding. The reason is for the "traditional" Shinto wedding is that they have a short service, and despite the simple procedure, are full of a solemn atmosphere.

A Shinto wedding is performed before a Shinto sanctuary and is presided over by a Shinto priest. Such weddings are usually attended by members of both families and/or close relatives in addition to the couple to be married and the Nakodo. Not that there will be a Nakodo in this situation, what with there really being no Mi-Ai or anything.

Well, now it's time, the moment I have been dreading for almost a month, no more than a month... after all, why did I run away? ...is finally here and I can't back out now.

Not that I would want to.

I take a deep breath; everyone else has already entered and taken his or her seats inside the hall, the main shrine stands in front. A tamagushi-an is placed in front of the shrine. Apart from the tamagushi-an, there are two hassoku-dai.

Setsuna and my seats are in front of the hassoku-dai and behind them are usually the seats for the nakodo but there is no need for them since they were not needed in this match. Rows of seats for the relatives of both families are lined up along the right and the left walls of the room. One the right side, the groom's relatives sit, but my friends sit there instead since I have no legally recognized family in Japan...that actually exists in reality... Setsuna's family and relatives sit in the order of Father, Mother, brothers, etc, on the left.

I can hear the beginning of the ceremony as it is announced along with the slight rustle of movement as everyone stands with head slightly bowed, while the Shinto priest performs purification with the nusa and tamagushi.

This will be a small ceremony with only my friends and the imperial family are present, but the reception...the reception on the other hand will have as many dignitaries as there are provinces in the world, some minor and some major but most will probably only seek a chance to better themselves in the eyes of, as they see it, a future emperor.

I turn my head as I hear someone approach from behind and hear myself sharply inhale. My Hime stands in the doorway, dressed as is traditional, in perhaps the most colorful element of the wedding.

As I stare at her I realize I haven't let go of the breath I took when I saw her. Still looking at her with wonder I force myself to relax and exhale slowly.

The big kanzashi worn in her hair by my hime are done in the old fashion, hidden under the tsuno kakushi. It is meant to hide the tsuno since it is believed that all women have horns of jealousy, no comment on my part thank you very much, I didn't invent that part of the superstition. The uchikake worn over her colorful wedding kimono is incredibly exquisite, colored an icy blue with a simple yet delicate floral pattern covering the lower left corner trailing and evolving into a mythical dragon in the upper right done in silver stitching.

Here face betrays no expression in response to my surprise but her eyes dancing in merriment are enough to show that she enjoyed my momentary shock. As we begin our journey toward the alter, through the now open doors, a small smile playing on my lips to show her that I find this all slightly unnecessary. She responds in kind as if to say we must bear it, it will be over soon.

Soon we reach the shrine, we then bow twice, clap hands twice and bow once again together with the priest before talking our seats.

Now we sit before the priest, waiting to be purified along with all others in attendance. It is not a long process and is soon over with. The priest chants norito announcing our marriage to the god, while each attendant stands up with head slightly bowed.

Now it is time for the ceremony of san-san-kudo to begin.

A set of three-stacked cups on a sambo is brought to me. Slowly, with my hands sweaty and shaky from nervousness, I take the first cup with both hands, and sake is poured into the cup by the priest.

I then put my left hand on the bottom of the cup and right hand on the side of it lightly; drink the sake in three sips and puts the cup back. The cups on the sambo are brought to Setsuna where she also takes the first cup and drinks it in much the same way. The same cup is brought to me again and I repeat the action. Now the second cup is taken by my hime first and the actions are repeated. Then I take the third cup first, yet again. In this way, we exchange the cups, nine times in all.

The meaning is to form a stronger bond through exchanging the cups three times and sharing drink.

The next part, honestly I have no idea if it was a western modification or not, and I strongly suspect the former was but what am I gonna do about it? I'm not exactly in a great position at the moment to contend a marriage tradition.

The next part is the exchanging of rings.

I take out a ring from my pocket and she from within the folds if her kimono.

The ring I give to her is a simple design, as is hers, two gold bands but the rings we exchanged in private the night before were a bit more intricate.

My gift to her was a small ring, however its design was that a small dragon writhing around her finger to form the band, in its forepaws a tiny bead, a pearl.

One I found when I lived with Maria in America. We were visiting 'our' relatives in Hawai'i and had gone diving off the cost of Kaua'i searching for possible pearls in oysters for the fun of it. I was the only one to find a pearl that day, even though is was quite small.

When I returned to Japan I gave it to a respected jeweler with specific instructions on what I wanted done to the ring. It is one of a kind, made specifically for her.

Her gift of a ring was a band of yellow gold, and not white, as the ring I gave to her was. On its top is engraved a tiger and on the inside is a short tanka.

It reads:

"Ikuru to wa

Ai ni kokoro wo

Kudaku koto

Kuchiawasu koto wa

Shinata wo ayumu"

otherwise translated as:

"To live is to break

One's heart for the sake of love;

A couple of doves,

Beaks touching on their way,

Are stepping out in the sun."

Interesting, although I have an idea as to what she is trying to tell me the true meaning remains a secret. After all the mysteries of a women's mind are just that...mysteries.

I know many people are always saying they want to unravel that mystery but knowing my friends and hime as I do, I think it might be safer not to.

I turn a face Setsuna slightly, and open my mouth to speak my oath of faithfulness, like the western style weddings we vow to be faithful and obedient. Okay, so we took a few liberties here and wrote our own vows into this wedding. We each had things we wanted to say before others and, we still kept it mostly Shinto and not Christian.

"In this moment we stand before each other, prepared to take the next step in life. To protect and serve my hime has always been my sworn duty and I shall not fail, now or ever, so I will take another vow, to be faithful as I have ever been obedient to her wishes since my earliest memories."

Briefly I lock eyes with my hime before she speaks her vows, and the words come, words that are not familiar to her.

"Since I was a child I have been told that there would be one to guide and protect me in all that I would do. Now I find that those words spoken in all seriousness at the time have taken on a new meaning as my childhood 'prince charming' has become as real as all children wish their dreams to be. I too shall be as obedient and faithful in this new stage of life as I have been in the past, more so than my shinobi has ever been or ever will be."

I meet Setsuna's eyes once more and I see, to my shock, tears once more threatening to overwhelm her defenses.

Silently we turn toward the priest, our vows said and done, we proceed into the sanctuary of the shrine; there we offer twigs from the sakaki to the gods, in hopes that they will bless our union. Before we go back to our seats we bow twice, clap hands twice and bow once again to the shrine.

That ends the main part of the wedding, all that is left now is the reception and for Setsuna's relatives in attendance and my family to exchange drinks to signify the our union. Since I have no living or known relatives, with the exception of Maria and my adoptive family in the US, my friends stand in their place.

I suspect it is a good thing that most of my friends drink already or we might have a slight problem with the alcohol.

Now, it's on to what, from all appearances, is seemingly going to be one hell of a reception.

During the course of the reception my Hime will be led out to change her dress with the second wedding kimono being different in design and color but just as beautiful and elaborate as the first one.

The tsuno kakushi and uchikake are no longer worn, so as to exhibit the bride more fully in all that she is. The bridal dresses are sometimes handed down in the family or made into futon. I think that this particular kimono was made especially for her, in order to bring out her eye color, an impressive gray-blue. Unusual for many Japanese people but it has a tendency to crop up now and then.

As for myself I will change into something more comfortable. Actually, it's a version of my shinobi outfit, but with more of a samurai look to it. You know the whole hakama, keikogi, and obi deal. The shinobi outfit is worn underneath. The colors are a simple deep blue for the keikogi and white for the hakama.

As I walk into the reception room, Setsuna's arm hooked through mine, many of the delegates come up, offering packets of money, not that we need it or really want it, but it is traditional and a sign of congratulations.

Smiling politely I glance back at the doorway to see Maria and my in-laws greeting the coming guests, as is customary, bidding them welcome. Setsuna and I should be sitting at a reception desk to receive the packets of money but we would both rather move around, sitting still something we both try to avoid, if at all possible and no one is going to correct us unless their drunk or just stupid, probably drunk though. Although, considering some of the people sent here as delegates or simply are here, stupid may be a reason as well.

Besides, friends work just as well and Shaun and Selena can be officious and pompous with the best of them, no offense they're just good at it. After Shaun, Selena is the best B.S. artist among our friends, so they should have a blast at answering any questions.

For now we have a few hours until the actual banquet where the guests will mingle and talk, just having fun or, more likely, trying to pry state secretes out of each other, I know I would be and probably will be later on.

Since this wedding is such a big international deal, what with the laws being changed and everything, besides the whole claim issue, there are many dignitaries from nations across the world, all of whom I will be obliged to speak with at some point this evening and all shall fall prey to my skill.

No, actually I'm not being cocky; I just have confidence in my skill.

Right now though I have a particular dignitary to entertain, one George W. Bush, president of the United States of America, charbroiled for one coming right up. I never liked him; even while I lived in the U.S. and now that I stand in almost complete equality withy him in terms of political policy...add in the fact that he has to know I look exactly like a Ken Toriad who no longer exists...this is going to be fun.

Smiling in anticipation I offer my arm once more to my hime and prepare to enter the fray.

"Hey, Kenshin?"

"Huh?" Setsuna and I turn around to see my friends standing there. "What's up?"

Cristin replies, "All the guests have arrived and the doors are closed so we were kinda unsure what to do. I mean, none of us has ever really been in the presence of any one of any significance in the world, except you and your now family, but they were really nice. How are we supposed to act? What are we supposed to do?"

I smirk, "Well, you can mingle and make it generally known that you have my utmost trust and are my closest confidences, then see what happens. This is politics so things will probably get interesting as people associate closeness to a position of power with the power itself.

"One thing though, please keep your acceptance of bribes to a minimum and make sure you can complete your end of the bargain. Politics is just a legal version of the mob and I don't want any of you turning up dead one day...

"Now if you'll excuse me, your president is in attendance. I think I should walk over and entertain myself by baiting him into a verbal sparring session. Maybe I will get a few more state secrets out of him at the same time. Anyone care to join me?"

Selena returns my smirk, "Love to."

"Same here," Shaun winks at me.

"Well, I do not believe it matters," Setsuna motions to the other side of the room. "Like it or not,"

"Definitely not," Cristin mutters.

"He is headed our way, so play nice."

I look over; we have a minute or two. He's still on the other side of the room.

"Whoopie," a sudden light enters Selena's eyes. "He's probably read the reports on us but he can't prove anything since you deleted you records from the US data banks."

"How did...?"

Shaun smirked slightly, "I traced you, with a program Xiao created for me a while back."

I groan in mock dismay, "I should have guessed. You and him, does he know?"

"No, he got rid of the program after he gave it to me, and I mean _got rid of_, everything he used to make it is gone, nothing can be traced back to him. He just got accepted into MIT on a full scholarship. He's not going to give that up for a program, no matter how good it is."

"Probably not," I nod to the French dignitary as we pass by. "At any rate I'll check later, just to make sure. We don't need them tracing it back to you through any means."

Setsuna looks slightly worried though, "Are you sure no one can trace him, he got rid of it all?"

"Yeah, I didn't actually trace him then either. The program is a spider, it weaves a web of connections and alarms throughout, ah, shall we say various non-public resources, then searches for anything abnormal on the network that's it's created, and reports them immediately. Anybody that sees the program running just sees another connection, like another server at work, so it camouflages itself at the same time. All I really do is watch, then I have to interpret, which is what I do best, putting thing together."

"You mean aside from random political speculation?" Cristin grins at Shaun, he returns the look.

"So you didn't actually know it was me?" I give him a sharp look.

"Nope, I only knew that someone went through a lot of trouble to access the government databanks only to delete a single file."

"Can anyone else tell what I did?"

"Doubt it," Shaun smiles. "You were very good. The program you left in place is an impressive piece of work. The way it's set up, they won't notice anything's wrong until they try to open it, and even then unless they look closely they won't be able to tell that anything is missing."

"Why not?" Elizabeth looks interested.

"The virus,"

"Virus?"

Shaun gives her an annoyed look, "Yeah, the one we were just discussing? Anyway, the virus that he introduced, and I'm betting, created just for this purpose, is a chameleon. It not only camouflages it's self as it works but it also leaves a mirror image of the data in its place. Any one who takes a look won't notice anything unless they try to change the file."

"How do you know all this?"

"I didn't, I suspected but until you just confirmed everything it was all speculation from what I saw and could deduce."

"Typical Shaun," Selena shakes her head. "Wanna tell us next time when you're not certain?"

"Nope."

"Didn't think so."

As I spot President Bush, now closer than the other side of the room, I motion for my friends to be quiet, thank goodness the room is crowded and it took him a while to get here. I don't approach him directly; rather I make sure he notices me and simply wait for him to come over to where I stand while my friends stand, discreetly but still in plain view off to the side.

"Ah, Mr. Kenshin."

His translator sighs in annoyance as he translates for the president. Obviously he thinks the president's need for a person to translate for me more than slightly stupid. I give him a warning glance and he loses the look.

"Mr. George," mocking him slightly by returning his inaccurate form of address as I nod my head slightly to acknowledge his presence, but giving off an air that suggests to most people I have something more important than them on my mind.

He bristles slightly, as much from the correction as from my attitude I suspect. Some men just can't handle being ignored.

Then, in a surprised tone he replies, "You understand English?"

"_Obviously_, of course I do. I study many languages and am fluent in four, including dum..." Setsuna poked me in my ribs, "Ass I was saying I speak English, very well."

He looks slightly taken aback, which is fine with me, "Congratulations on your marriage."

"Thank you for your interest," I look him in the eyes, "I heard you had an interesting incident a few weeks ago. Something involving a high school fight that got out of hand?"

"Ah, yes..." he clears his throat uncomfortably as he looks at my face rather closely. "That...uh...unfortunate incident occurred without any apparent provocation. It wasn't really a fight as an attack on our liberty, the liberty of our people, on the liberty of my country."

"Your country?" I give him a mildly curious look.

"I _am_ president."

"Of course, go on."

He glance irritably in the direction of my friends, I look over and see them chatting away as if they haven't a care in the world. Occasionally one looks over and then as they turn back they laugh slightly.

I think he's getting rather annoyed at them since he can't do a thing about them being here and he can't officially prove I did anything to their data base, even if they've discovered what I've done by now.

Clearing his throat he continues, "We managed to find out who was involved in the fight, a high school junior known as Ken to his friends, Ken Toriad. Actually, we even had his friends tracked down, to try and get information out of them."

I cocked an eyebrow at him. "Tracked them down for information?"

A single question and all that it implies is obvious enough for the president of the United States of America to understand, even without the vice president whispering answers in his ears.

Uncomfortably the President clears his throat, "Well he did assault an officer and it was only to see if they knew anything, but apparently none of them did, which was strange, how could someone with such abilities go unnoticed? Someone with those skills always wants to be recognized as special."

"Maybe you would want to be recognized but not everyone does, not everyone is power hungry, as many leaders of the world are."

"I suppose so," for a moment he is off balanced.

He really isn't good at thinking on his feet is he? Without his support staff he can't seem to answer any of my questions or respond to my comments with any sort of coherence.

Sigh, this is no fun. I didn't expect it to be very challenging but this is a complete waste of my time. I suppose I should end this soon any way. I do have other things to do.

"Now may I ask who those young children are?" his question redirects my attention back towards him. "And what they are doing at such an exclusive event?"

"Of course, one may always _ask_..." I incline my head slightly.

"Ken-kun!" My hime looks disapprovingly in my direction.

"Gomenasai, anata." I turn back to the US President. "They are friends of mine, from your country I believe."

"How did you meet them?" he seems truly interested in the answer. I'm sure he is, and for all the _right_ reasons.

"I don't believe that's any of your business, Mr. President. Besides I don't see why you should care," if he's tried to change the file on Ken Toriad then I have him and he knows it...then again, maybe he doesn't. He doesn't have the vice president whispering in his ear at the moment so as to better help him correct his mistakes or speak for him. "However if it really matters to you, I met them online, posing as a common teenager in Japan. It was an attempt to be normal, to see the world through a different set of eyes. We exchanged the normal courtesies, you know, traded photos and such and then they saw the news. From there the rest was, as they say, history.

"Again, was there a specific reason you should care?"

If he is aware of how dangerous this situation is for him then can't say that he thinks they're the same friends he questioned because that would say that he thinks I'm the same person as Ken Toriad, who he doesn't have any proof exists anymore. His response will tell me what I need to know.

"No real reason," replies Bush lamely.

"Okay, well, I'm going to have some intelligent conversations with other foreign officials now."

"Of course," Bush responds stiffly. He appears to be getting even more uncomfortable by the moment, seems he doesn't take well to being insulted. Or maybe intelligent people that aren't on his side of the fence make him nervous...? Or maybe he simply sucks as a conversationalist when it comes to politics or the mistakes of his administration...? I don't really care.

Without another word I walk to my friends and we make our way to the other side of the room.

"What happened?" Dave asked.

"I realized just how much like a monkey your president looks."

"Kenshin..." Maria looks annoyed with me.

I sigh in slight exasperation, "Tell you in a minute, Setsuna-kun is now engaged in conversation with the president so I'll see what she gets. Then we'll talk. For now, like I said before just mingle. Feel free to make sure everyone knows you guys are my friends and have some fun."

"Okay, common ya'll," laughing slightly, everyone follows Elizabeth.

As they leave Setsuna walks over to my side, reaching out to link arms.

"Find out anything?"

"Yes, the president is a fool, not like his father at all who was actually a smart man. Bush has abandoned the hope of getting world support for his invasion of Iraq but he's still confident he can win the war without help. Also, he knows who you are, at least he suspects,"

"I thought as much," I nod my head.

Setsuna continues, "and he may be planning something for your friends when they return to the US. After that, he doesn't like you very much. Oh, and he'll be trying to find out how you fight from the Japanese representatives here. He wants to be able to train a special force in America like you."

I snort in disdain, "He can try but nobody but only Maria and I know anything about the style, since my master is dead. He won't succeed."

"Fine with me, but what about when they return to the US?"

"He can't touch them without proof, and if he gives any of them any trouble I will personally take out every last one of him and his supporters, and I'm not talking about killing them either."

"That's what I would expect from you, nothing less," Setsuna kisses me lightly on the lips before walking off to speak with more delegates.

Wordlessly I gaze after her, my hand reaching to my lips where she kissed me. That's the second time, what if...

Several hours later, and more than a few dignitaries, and another 'sparring' session with George W. Bush, it is finally time for the banquet.

As prepare we sit down I hear Shaun, Selena, and Maria arguing, apparently none of them wants to give the speech required as they are my best friends and the guests of honor.

"For god's sake," Maria groans.

"Oh no, not for my sake," Shaun grins a bit shakily as he tries to ease all of their nerves. He's more comfortable observing and analyzing political functions than actually participating in them.

"We'll all just get up and say a little something about him, but we have to be careful not to say anything about how we know him from America."

"Yeah," Selena nods seriously. "We know."

"Okay, so what are we supposed to say?" Shaun asks.

"I don't know," Maria gives him an exasperated look. "You're the best BS artist among us. Can't you make something up?"

"Well, yes, but..."

"Wait, whose gonna translate?"

"Maria speaks Japanese," said Selena volunteers my sister rather quickly.

"That's right, Kenshin taught her when they were younger," Shaun nods his head. That's two against one. How amusing.

"Good, she can translate for us and the peoples translators can translate for them."

"Okay, are we good?" Maria shakes her head in mock disgust.

"Good? What is this 'good'?" Selena grins.

Shaun rolls his eyes, "Yes, yes."

"Shut-up, we have to go on now."

I smile to myself; this ought to be interesting.

"Um, welcome to our friends wedding, friends, family and foreign dignitaries. My name is Shaun and I am one of three guests of honor at this momentous occasion."

Maria steps forward and begins to speak Japanese flawlessly, "We bid you welcome family, friends, and foreign dignitaries. Boku no namae wa Shaun desu. I am one of three guests of honor at this momentous occasion."

Selena steps forward to announce herself, "I am Selena and this is Maria. The three of us would just like to congratulate our friend, Kenshin on his joyous union."

"Watashi wa Selena desu soshite, are wa Maria desu. We three would simply like to congratulate our dear friend's as they bask in the admiration and joy of being married."

Shaun resumes his speaking, "We are honored to speak in our joy and wish them many years of happiness as well as many healthy children."

I glance at my hime as she hears Shaun's last remark. Her eyes darken slightly but not too much as she understands he is just teasing us, albeit a bit formally.

"Watashi-tachi are honored to speak in our joy and wish many years of happiness upon this blessed couple as well as many healthy children."

Finally Maria speaks for herself, "Kosei desu, as both tomodachi soshite ane of the groom, to be here. I am pleased that ones such as yourselves have an opportunity for happiness and happiness should not be wasted, no matter what form it comes in. Please, eat, drink and be merry..." she looks directly at President Bush as she says the last part.

Gee, I wonder if he or any of the other dignitaries know how the saying ends. "Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we shall die." Oh well, its their lose if they don't.

Looking a little more than slightly relieved my sister and friends step down from the podium and take they're seats by my wife and I.

"I can't believe you made us do that!" Maria hisses at me. "I have never been so nervous in my entire life.

"So? It's over now isn't it?"

"That's not the point!"

"Then what?" I tilt me head at her.

"Never mind."

Dave looks at me with curiosity, "Kenshin, what exactly is the position of emperor to Japan anyway? It seems pretty important."

"No, it's not important at all," Shaun rolls his eyes.

"Actually," Setsuna responds, ignoring Shaun, "it's not really all that powerful, at least in political matters.

"The Emperor performs those acts in matters of state which are provided for in the Constitution. Like appointing the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, attesting the appointment of Ministers of State and some other high officials, promulgating..."

"Wait," Dave looks confused, "promulgating? What does that mean?"

Shaun smirks, "It means publicizing, you know, making generally known?"

"Any way, promulgating laws and treaties, awarding honors and attesting to the credentials of ambassadors as well as receiving foreign ambassadors. However, in these matters of state, he acts on the advice and approval of the Cabinet."

"Kind of like the president?" asks Jess.

"Kinda, but he has more power over the people, well, maybe not power, power but I guess you could say they have more belief in him. I'm not quite sure how to explain it," Setsuna shakes her head in frustration.

"How about this," I smirk at Setsuna slightly, "since I'm a 'commoner', so to speak, I might have a better idea. The people...during WWII we, that is, they saw the current emperors father as a god, someone who would do no wrong, could do no wrong. As far as I can tell, that opinion hasn't changed a whole lot in the last sixty years or so. Well, maybe it's gone down a little but not so you'd really notice. I guess you could say he's a figure of public unity more than anything else but the position demands respect even if it has lost much of its previously perceived power."

"Oh," Dave sits back to mull over this information for a while.

"Hey!" Selena looks closely at the celery sticks on her plate, "What exactly is on these things? Kenshin, is it wasabi?"

"Shhh," I put my finger to my lips, a smile struggling to make its way across my features.

"It is isn't it?" her look is triumphant.

"What is wasabi?" Ariel look is a curious one while Maria rolls her eyes with resignation.

"Just try it," Maria told her. "It's like nothing you've ever had before. I guarantee it." She made a face, "Now I sound like a TV commercial."

Suddenly Jess starts having a coughing fit across the table.

"Hey, are you okay?" Dave looks at her worriedly.

At the same time every other one of my friends at the table looks at her with concern.

Apparently unable to speak Jess just nods and steals his water, gulping it down in a matter of seconds. "_WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT_?" she yells, or rather, tries to. It comes out in more of a hoarse whisper.

"The celery," Setsuna calmly informs them, "is coated in wasabi, a rather harsh horse radish mustard." Smiling she puts a large piece in her mouth with her chopsticks, calmly chewing and swallowing. "Bet none of you can hold it down better than her."

Off course none of them can resist the challenge, and soon everyone but Maria and Selena and my hime, who have eaten it before, are emptying the pitchers of water in front of them.

"I tried to warn them," Maria attempting to shrug her shoulders, her barely contained laughter warring with her ability to do so.

"Ya'll told us no such thing," Elizabeth points an accusing finger at us.

"Did too."

"No, ya'll didn't!"

"We did!"

"Ah can prove ya'll didn't!"

"How?"

"Ya said 'it's like nothin' ya'll've ever had before. Ah guarantee it.'"

"I was trying to warn you."

"You didn't see her smirking?" Selena grinned.

"..." Elizabeth just stared at her.

"Forget it you guys," I look pointedly at them all. "Don't get into an argument on my wedding day."

"They're not arguing," Jessica glances sardonically at me, "they're having a friendly conversation."

I return her look, "Of course..."

So, this is the wedding night.

Silently I stare out of the window. It is the same as that night, during my last winter back in Japan after I left those many years ago.

It's snowing.

Perhaps it seems a trivial thing to notice, even if it is rather odd and early at this time of year in early November, but it adds to the ambience of the castle and I like it.

To my left my wife sleeps silently, hopefully undisturbed by my midnight musings. I smile gently as I turn my gaze from the window to her sleeping form. Her breath is slow and regular, unbroken as her chest rises and falls comfortably.

One may find it odd but I take a great, yet simple pleasure in watching her, whether she is sleeping, or not. Her presence and the sight of her, it suffuses me with joy I cannot truly describe, nor do I believe I need to.

Things have changed, for my friends as well as myself. I believe that we are no longer the people that we were. The _Selves_ of today are different, different from even our _Selves_ of a few weeks ago.

I find this thought to be disconcerting as well as strangely satisfying. After all, what is life but a constant of change? We all change after every experience we have, however minute. In such an idea it would follow that my friends will now go back to their old lives changed by their knowledge.

On the other hand reality of a different sort sets in as I realize that my friends are most likely not to be to be drastically changed by what they know. From what I've seen my friends, in particular Selena and Elizabeth as well as my sister haven't really changed their views of me in the least.

Rather for Selena and Maria I believe that this entire situation has cleared up a few questions they had about me.

And then there is Elizabeth; she seems entirely unaffected by any of the recent happenings.

Completely jaded, if I had to describe her that would be a good description. Nothing fazes her, at least on the surface.

I suppose what I would normally say is that it doesn't matter, but it does. This time is different, there is a reason I brought them all to Japan. To live life with no regrets is an impossibility but to make sure ones has as few as possible is a worthy goal. That is my end, what I wish to achieve.

When the final parting of ways comes I believe that I will have no regrets and so I am happy in that fact alone. I have settled my differences with my friends, whatever they were and in whatever form they appeared.

Closure, as they say, has been reached.

"I can believe you guys are leaving?" Maria looks sadly at her friends. "We haven't even been here that long."

"We have been here two weeks already," Ariel puts her hand on Maria's shoulder. "Do not worry; we'll keep in contact through e-mail and stuff."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Hey, don't sweat it," Jess grins. "You'll have some great adventures if you stay here."

"And you guys at W.E.U. won't? Thanks, but I'll miss it all the same."

"No one said not to miss it, just don't dwell on it," Dave gives her a serious look.

"Right."

Grinning Shaun walks up behind them completely ignoring the conversation already in progress. "I had no idea Japan could be so fun. I guess even God can learn something new."

"_Shaun_!" Ariel groans.

"What?"

"Nothing much, you just realize that you are not God," Jess hits him playfully in the shoulder.

In two weeks these people, my friends from the US, who had for the most part never met before, have bonded and become friends in their own right. I'm glad.

"I'm not?"

"Nope."

I groan inwardly, at this point I can't wait for them to leave. I love them all very dearly as friends, but I've as much constant contact with them as I can take at one time. I just want them too get on the plane so I can get away and spend time with my Hime. I haven't truly spent time with her alone since they got here.

But Maria will be staying as our parents agreed to let her. At least I'll be able to keep in contact with them, for a little while anyway.

I can feel my eyes glistening as the plane takes off, taking with it my only true friends. I feel someone put their hand on my shoulder; I ignore them, my eyes still on the departing plane.

Silently I laugh at myself, a feeling of nostalgia warring with self-intrigue. I don't even know who I am anymore. Time was when I only had to listen to myself, use my wits to survive on the streets of Tokyo.

_"Ahah ha! Arigato, Ojii-san!" _

_"Oi, gaki! Get back here with my money!" _

Things weren't ever great then but they weren't as complicated either. But then, they weren't that complicated later on either, not even when I began my training to protect my hime.

_"Sloppy! I know you can do better, you level of potential is higher than possibly even myself." _

_"Hai, hai...I'll surpass you one day. Then you'll be sorry..." _

_"Enough talk! Again!" _

Then all I had to do was listen to my sensei and things were fine. I didn't have any friends but it didn't matter. I didn't need any, until I met my hime, and she changed my view on the subject. She became my first true friend.

_"Come on..." _

_"But...Hime...!" _

_"What?" _

_"I'm gonna be late for class." _

_"So what? The winter festival only comes once a year and you said you wanted to go. Hurry and change." _

_"But..." _

_"This was you idea to change into commoner clothes, not mine. Now if we don't hurry we'll miss the start!" _

_"Did I not mention 'class'?" _

_"Yes, why?" _

_"You have none." _

_"What?" _

_"Never mind, hurry or we'll be late." _

If only I hadn't made that promise when I was eight, then I wouldn't have had to run away and things would have been simple. Well simpler...still running away wasn't the worst decision ever. I met Maria in America, and we became family.

"_Hi."_

_"Konnichiwa." _

"_Right, umm, hi..."_

"_Oh, sorry. Hi."_

"_You don't have to talk in Japanese you know._

"_I know, but sometimes I slip,"_

"_In fact, I can't even understand you when you do that."_

"_I said sorry... Maria?"_

"_Hm?"_

"_Will you teach how to be...how to act around other people, so I don't scare them away?"_

"_Japanese."_

"_Excuse me?"_

"_Japanese."_

"_I hear that the first time. What's your point?"_

"_I'll teach you how to socialize correctly if you teach me,"_

"_If I teach you Japanese...? Deal..."_

So we taught each other and became friends in the process. By the time I entered my first year in high school I was normal, kind of. I had friends at least. But it was W.E.U. that truly taught me to emerge from my reentry into being emotionless.

"_This will be the circle of mending hearts. We will start it as we start all our fires, with an offering to the four spirit keepers. However first we need to realize that sometime you need to see the problem before you can fix it. Nature is like that, and so are our hearts..."_

In one summer there I learned more about who I was and who I could be than anywhere else. I didn't lose the ability to repress my emotions but I did ease up a bit on the fact.

"_What happened over the summer?"_

"_Not much, I went to camp, same as you. Naze ka"_

"_I don't know you just seem different, more open or something."_

I made more friends, and things went back to being simple. Then my hime showed up and I came back to Japan, agreed to be married to her, and invited my friends over for a visit.

"_Don't worry."_

"_Why not? You guys are leaving tomorrow."_

"_But we'll always be friends. Even if we never see each other again. That's what being friends means."_

"_..."_

"_Ya didn't think we'd give ya up that's easily did ya?"_

"_Well..."_

"_Never mind, Kenshin. We'll remember you, forever."_

"_Trust God and his loyal servants, okay? We know what we're talking about."_

"_Whose a loyal servant!?!"_

"_...mina-san..."_

They only just left and yet their voices echo in my mind, memories of times longs past. Almost as if I shall never see them again, and as I think about it I won't, they are of a life I am no longer part of.

Thoughts of them shall only sever as a distraction. Until Maria leaves in a few years, that's the longest I have. When the time comes I'll have to sever _all_ connections.

Silently I turn and leave the airfield; my sister and wife have already left. Still lost in thought I walk to the shadows and leave for the castle. There is much to do, in very little time.

But the question still eats at me, who am I?

I feel like my character floats around aimlessly, changing on the situation. My past, maybe I can't look at it to see who I am. People are constantly changing and whether or not I was a child who could only look on in stony silence or a prodigy assassin in the past, or even a friend to people in America, being almost normal.

None of it matters, I mean it does, it all helped shape who I am today but...then...what am I now?

I am...who I am has changed, that much is clear. Even in the last two weeks, actually, more so in the last two weeks. It's like I was killing my relations in the west. When I deleted the files of my life in America I got rid of the final anchor in America. I think bringing my friends here simply reinforced that idea. Like I was showing them who I was here so I could remove myself from their lives with no regrets.

I can't go back to being an emotionless person, ever. But I am still a kid, open to change. I still posses the skills of the hitokiri although I now know what it is to be a friend. I guess I am normal, well as normal as anyone ever is. Still able to suppress them but now more willing to be open with my emotions, less afraid of being hurt.

I am who I am and if I ever truly figure it out, then I may be one of the few who ever do so.

"Your turn. Now you try." I turn my gaze to Maria, having just finished a demonstration of the next technique she has to learn. It happens to be a step towards mastering my personal favorite.

"_Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu! Battou-jutsu!_"

In an instant Maria strikes out with her katana. The battou-jutsu is the fastest of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu techniques and strikes with the full speed of the school. However, it is possible to dodge if one knows what to expect.

Once she perfects the technique it will be transformed into the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, Sou Ryu Sen in which one strikes with the swords slash and then brings the sheath around as well. If the blade is dodged the sheath is not. All techniques of the Mitsurugi Ryu are two step attacks which leave no chance for defense.

She may or may not, in the end, achieve the level of speed needed to perform the Ougi. Plus, she may not be able to tread that line between life and death with such precision. And if she does, will she be able to attempt to take my life to master the school of ken-jutsu? Only time will tell.

I point to a group of men climbing out of a window two stories above us, "They're all yours."

"Gee, thanks, otooto-chan."

Time to see what she can do after a few years of training. There are three of them, each armed, a knife at least, probably one of them has a gun. Typical robbers.

I step out of the way into the shadows.

As the robbers attempt to leave the scene of the crime Maria lands in front of them, punching the first one to reach her.

"Give up yet?" Maria smiles.

"Hah!" The punks laugh derisively. "Why don't you run while you have the chance little girl?"

"Run away?" She smirks. "Sorry, not my style."

The robber in the front sneers confidently and promptly finds himself saying hello to the nearest wall, thanks to an aerial roundhouse in the face. Except he never meets with his date, he runs into another problem first, two actually.

A neat fist in the stomach followed by another ax kick to the face. Gee but I hope purple's his favorite color.

The two other punks rush her, knives drawn. Maria doesn't even blink, a smooth round off turned into a split kick to their faces before landing knocks them both on their butts, hard. Still in motion she draws her blade and flips into the air as they get up, trying to figure out what she did.

Too late they notice the shadow above them, and that's all they see, as she strikes downward with all possible strength in her arms.

"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu! Ryu Tsui Sen!"

As soon as the strike is complete, before the final thief can even register her presence she strikes again, this time with an upward stroke, "Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu! Ryu Shou Sen!"

They drop as fast as the first and probably harder. They should consider themselves lucky out school uses sakabatou in current times.

"How was that?" She looks at me with no emotion on her face other than curiosity. She is simply awaiting my critique.

Or she seems to be, her eyes dance with hidden excitement and pleasure.

"Not bad, for a first try." I'm baiting her, as I would have when we were really brother and sister by U.S. law.

She smiles knowingly and bites, "Not bad? You couldn't do any better, otooto. Care to test me?"

I nod, this is what will truly tell me her skill, a no hold barred match till one falls, unable to fight any longer or asks for mercy. She will not ask for mercy and neither will I.

Here I come, sister, are you ready? With your refusal to learn the Mitsurugi Ryu past the Ku Zu Ryu Sen, can you stand a chance? We shall see.

I do not smile as I watch Maria board her plane. There is no need or reason to. She has grown to be so much more than she was since she originally came to Japan and began to train three years ago. She has learned much but changed even more.

Gone are her innocent eyes of the sister I once knew. In their stead are eyes that have seen and done much, the eye of a war veteran.

Gone are the filled in features of her high school year. Now she is a lean fighter on par with the best in the world. Few can compare yet her final test now approaches.

Gone is her easy laughter from her youth. I see it when we hunt the criminals of Tokyo; she has learned take pleasure in the hunt. Her newfound joy of the fight wars with her sense of right and wrong.

I have a simple question that only you can answer nee-chan.

Will you be the ultimate street fighter or the journalist you always wanted to be? The choice is yours.

Will you fight to the death? Or will you fight to improve, teach, and learn?

Our ryu was originally founded to kill to protect the weak. That basic concept has not changed in over a three hundred years of battle but our motivation has.

You and I, we do not fight to kill. It's not who we are, we fight to find out why we fight, to prove that we need not kill to be truly strong.

Those who fight for pride and to kill will ultimately lose their life in battle to those they cannot win against. Fight for what you believe in and no fight is a loose. Remember that...

I have severed the last ties to my relations in the west, and now I am who I am, free to live as I have chosen, free to be emperor when my time comes, with no regrets or unfinished business.

Sayonara nee-chan, mina-san...we shall not meet again.

Terms used-

Boku no namae wa Shaun desu- My name is Shaun

Futon- bedding or mattress

Gomenasai, anata- I'm sorry, dear

Hakama- split skirt trousers

Hassoku-dai- a table with eight legs

Keikogi- a heavy weight jacket worn tucked in

Kanzashi- ornaments

Kosei desu- I am honored

Mi-Ai- Japanese courtship

Nakodo- matchmakers

Nusa- paper wand

Norito- prayers

Obi- belt

Otooto- little brother

Sakaki- sacred tree

San-san-kudo- exchanging nuptial cups of sake

Sambo- wooden tray with a stand

Sayonara- goodbye

Shinobi- ninja

Tamagushi- sacred branch

Tamagushi-an- a table for sacred branches

Tanka- a popular form of Japanese poetry. It is known for its simplistic yet meaningful verses - with its lyrical words reminiscent of a melody or a tune when cited. Its distinction is its composition of 31 total syllables, which follow a 5-7-5-7-7 pattern when broken down. Note: the tanka in the story is a variation as it follows a 5-7-5-8-7 pattern of syllables.

Tomodachi soshite ane- friend and elder sister

Tsuno Kakushi- hood

Tsuno- horns

Uchikake- gown

Watashi wa Cristin desu soshite, are wa Maria desu- I am Cristin and this is Maria

Watashi-tachi- We


End file.
